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 ↓
Sugar Cakes
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Dissolve the baking soda in the sour cream and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the grated nutmeg and flour until a dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to your desired thickness.
Cut into shapes and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and creams with butter to help create a light texture.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that helps the cookies rise.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, which activates the baking soda and tenderizes the dough.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the sour cream. Baking soda needs an acid to release carbon dioxide. Mixing it thoroughly into the acidic sour cream before adding it spreads the leavening evenly so the dough rises uniformly rather than in patches.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, cream):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, cream. 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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