Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Delicious 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the buttermilk or sour milk.
Gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until smooth.
Add flavoring to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into loaf, layer, or puff tins.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 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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Egg + flourtop 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps tenderize the crumb when creamed with butter.
- Buttermilk or sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk or sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until smooth. Adding flour in portions and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter evenly combined. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.
“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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