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 ↓
Tea 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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and egg, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
If using blueberries, fold in the berries and sprinkle the additional flour over them.
Pour the batter into a greased biscuit tin.
Bake
Bake for 25-30 minutes or 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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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).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 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).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake, aids browning, and helps aerate the creamed butter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, lifting the cake as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.. Stirring too much develops gluten in the flour, which makes the crumb tough and dense. Mixing only until no dry flour remains keeps the cake tender.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, 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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