Why it works: Butter and coconut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Yeast 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
Dissolve the nut butter in warm water.
Add enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Let the batter rise until very light.
Mix in the beaten eggs, sugar, nut meal, salt, and additional flour, then beat the mixture thoroughly.
Pour the batter into three jelly tins.
Let the batter rise again in the tins.
Bake and rest
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Cool the cakes.
Cover the cakes with a bread cloth.
Store the cakes in a tight box or can for 24 hours.
Fill and serve
Fill the cakes with your choice of filling.
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 + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + coconuttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,315 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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness as they set during baking.
- Flour
- Forms the stiff batter framework that holds the cake's shape.
- Nut butter
- Adds fat and nutty flavour, giving the crumb a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown during baking.
- Nut meal
- Adds body and nutty flavour, softening the crumb slightly.
The step that matters
Letting the batter rise until very light. Yeast produces the gas that lifts the batter. If the first rise is cut short, the cakes stay dense, and the second rise in the tins depends on that gas being present.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, egg, sugar. 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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