Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Saffron 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.
Make the batter
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Dissolve the saffron in the water and add it to the butter and sugar mixture.
Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until smooth.
Fold in the beaten eggs gently.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Saffron + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together447 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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, butter traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, sugar helps create a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
- Flour
- Flour forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the heated batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Saffron
- Dissolved in water, saffron gives the cake its distinctive color and aroma.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten eggs gently. Folding keeps the air bubbles in the beaten eggs intact. Vigorous stirring would deflate them and leave the cake denser after baking.
Swap the saffron
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Saffronthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, 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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