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 ↓
Lemon Cheese 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 cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream together 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup of butter.
Add ¾ cup of sweet milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the 6 egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the mixture gently.
Sift together 3 cups of flour and 3 teaspoons of baking powder, then add to the mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Make the lemon filling
For the lemon filling, combine the grated rind and juice of 2 lemons, 3 egg yolks, and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan.
Add ½ cup of butter and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly.
Use the lemon filling as a jelly between the cake layers or spread on top of a square cake.
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 + 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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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).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam to lighten the batter and give the cake an airy crumb.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the lemon filling as they cook and add richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once its proteins set in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness in the cake and richness to the filling.
- Lemon rind and juice
- Provide the bright acidity and aroma that flavour the filling.
The step that matters
Cooking the lemon filling over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set, but if the heat is too high or stirring stops, they can scramble and turn grainy. Low heat and constant stirring keep the filling smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, 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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