Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Delicate Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°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.
Prepare and mix the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.
Dissolve the baking soda in the sweet cream and add to the butter mixture.
Add the flour mixture gradually, mixing well.
Fold in and bake
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the batter.
Add the cream of tartar and flavoring, mixing gently.
Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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 richness and tender texture, and creaming it with sugar traps air in the batter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts and lightens the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to release gas that helps the cake rise.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness, and carries the dissolved baking soda into the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. The stiff egg whites hold the air that makes the cake light. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air in the batter so the cake rises well instead of turning dense.
“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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