Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cup Cake
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).
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and butter until well combined.
Add the cream and beaten eggs, mixing thoroughly.
Dissolve the cream of tartar and baking soda separately, then add to the mixture.
Mix all ingredients well and pour into a baking pan.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
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 + 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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, helping the leavening react and stabilising the structure.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that lifts the cake.
The step that matters
Dissolve the cream of tartar and baking soda separately, then add to the mixture.. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release carbon dioxide. Dissolving each leavener fully before mixing keeps them evenly distributed, so the cake rises uniformly without pockets of bitter soda or uneven lift.
“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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