Name: Small Pound Cakes
Ingredients: 1 pound butter (softened); 1 pound sugar; 1 pound flour; 10 eggs; ½ cup brandy; Dried currants (optional, washed and floured)

Why it works: Brandy and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Small Pound Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Whisk the egg yolks and whites together until thick, then add to the butter and sugar mixture.
Gradually stir in the flour until well combined.
Add the brandy and beat the mixture for several minutes.

Bake

Butter small round pans and fill them halfway to allow for rising.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,127 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 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: Adds richness and tender texture by coating flour and holding air when creamed with sugar.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when beaten with butter, giving a light crumb.
Flour: Provides the structure that sets the cake as the batter bakes.
Eggs: Add structure, moisture and richness, and help the batter rise and set.
Brandy: Adds aroma and flavour to the batter.

The step that matters

Whisk the eggs until thick before adding them. Thoroughly whisked eggs hold air that lightens the batter. Adding them to the creamed butter and sugar in a well-aerated state helps the cake rise evenly and keeps the crumb fine.

Swap the currant

The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, brandy):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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Small Pound Cakes