Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Breakfast Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the milk and flour until smooth.
Beat in the eggs and melted butter.
Add the cream of tartar and baking soda, mixing well.
Cook the cakes
Heat a griddle and grease it with the additional tablespoon of butter.
Pour batter onto the griddle and cook until bubbles form, then flip and cook until golden.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they set.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it cooks.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a smooth batter and keeps the cakes moist.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that reacts with baking soda to produce rising gas.
- Baking soda
- Releases carbon dioxide when combined with the acid, lifting the batter for a lighter cake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavour and a tender, soft crumb.
The step that matters
Flip only once bubbles form and the surface is set. Bubbles show gas escaping through the batter and the top starting to set. Flipping too early tears the cake, while a griddle that is too hot browns the outside before the centre is cooked through.
“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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