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 ↓
A Later Batter Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Layer the cakes
Bake four cakes the size of a breakfast plate.
As soon as one is done, place it on a plate and butter it.
Spread sugar on top.
Cover with a tin to keep the sugar from drying out.
Once another cake is baked, place it on top of the previous one, butter it, and sugar it as before.
Finish and serve
On the last cake, add whipped cream or beaten egg whites on top.
Serve immediately.
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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Batter
- Forms the thin cake layers, which set into a soft, tender crumb when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to each layer and helps the cakes stay soft.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and melts into a sticky glaze on the warm cake.
- Whipped cream or beaten egg whites
- Adds a light, airy topping that contrasts with the dense cake layers.
The step that matters
Cover each cake with a tin after sugaring. The covering traps heat and steam so the sugar melts into the warm cake instead of drying out on the surface.
“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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