Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
English Walnut Cake
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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine the sifted flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the cold water.
Fold in the walnut kernels last.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For layered cake, bake in layers and use walnut kernels in icing between the cakes.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 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).
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Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,832 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the butter cream to a light, airy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and traps air when creamed with sugar.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Walnut kernels
- Add texture and a nutty flavour, and some fat that keeps the crumb moist.
The step that matters
Adding the dry ingredients alternately with the cold water. Adding flour in portions alternated with liquid keeps the batter smooth and prevents overmixing. Overmixing develops gluten and can make the cake tough, while a split batter can bake unevenly.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg):
- Almondfits better
- Macadamia nutfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg. 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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