Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Caramel Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.
Add the sweet milk and egg whites, mixing well.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then gradually add to the mixture.
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake until golden.
Make the filling
For the filling, combine the sugar, cream, and melted butter in a clean skillet.
Boil the mixture, stirring minimally to avoid scorching.
To test, drop a bit into cold water; it should form a soft ball.
Remove from heat and stir until it thickens to a molasses-like consistency.
Assemble
Spread the filling between the cake layers and on top and sides.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lift to the batter as they set during baking.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's main structure once its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises in the oven.
- Sugar
- Cooked with cream and butter, it becomes the caramel that sets the filling.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture to the filling, making it smooth and soft.
The step that matters
Boiling and thickening the filling. Sugar scorches easily when stirred too much or overheated, giving a bitter taste. Cooking to a soft-ball stage and then removing from heat lets the caramel thicken to the right consistency.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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