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 ↓
Loaf 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 the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until light and frothy, then add them to the butter mixture.
Stir in the cream of tartar and gradually add the flour.
Add enough milk to create a very stiff batter.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of milk and add it to the batter.
Bake
Grease your baking pan and pour in the batter.
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 + 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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the crumb as the cake bakes.
- Unsalted butter
- Adds fat and tenderness, and creaming it with sugar traps air for lift.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure, moisture and richness.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, golden crust.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that leavens the cake.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda and folding in the batter. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acid from the cream of tartar. Undissolved pockets cause uneven rising and bitter spots, so the batter should be mixed evenly before baking.
“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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