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 ↓
Honey Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and honey together.
Add the beaten eggs and sour milk, mixing well.
Stir in the baking soda and lemon extract.
Gradually add flour until the batter is stiff enough to stir.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake in the preheated oven.
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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Honey + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,336 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + honeytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,327 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the cake tender and rich.
- Honey
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk acid to produce gas that lifts the cake.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the batter is stiff enough to stir. Flour builds the structure of the cake, and adding too much at once can make the batter tough and hard to mix evenly. Adding it gradually lets you stop once the batter is stiff enough, keeping the crumb tender.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, honey, egg, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, honey, 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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