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 ↓
Nut 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.
Make the batter
Cream the sugar and butter until light.
Add the beaten egg whites and yolks, and mix well.
Stir in the sweet milk.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then add to the mixture.
Fold in the chopped nuts just before baking.
Pour the batter into a large square baking pan.
Bake and finish
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Frost with boiled or confectioner's icing and top with walnut halves.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,180 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).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks and whites add richness, structure and lift to the crumb as they set.
- All-purpose flour
- Flour forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Fat adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay moist.
- Chopped nuts
- Add crunch, flavour and a little fat to the cake.
The step that matters
Fold in the chopped nuts just before baking. Nuts dredged in flour are less likely to sink, and folding gently keeps the batter airy. Overmixing develops gluten and makes the cake dense and tough, so stop once the nuts are evenly distributed.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Milletfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour. 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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