Name: Composition Cake
Ingredients: 1¾ pounds all-purpose flour; 1¼ pounds granulated sugar; 12 ounces unsalted butter, softened; 1½ cups milk (sour); 6 large eggs, separated; 2 pounds seedless plums, pitted and cut into pieces; ½ cup brandy; 1 cup mixed spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, allspice), finely ground; 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda

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 ↓

Composition Cake

Ingredients

1¾ pounds all-purpose flour
1¼ pounds granulated sugar
12 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups milk (sour)
6 large eggs, separated
2 pounds seedless plums, pitted and cut into pieces
½ cup brandy
1 cup mixed spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, allspice), finely ground
1 heaping teaspoon baking soda

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) and prepare your cake pans.

Make the batter

In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little of the sour milk and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the remaining sour milk and brandy.
Gently fold in the flour and spices until just combined.
Roll the plum pieces in flour and fold them into the batter.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the batter.

Bake

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake immediately for about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Plum + brandytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together168 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + plumtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together406 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as the batter bakes.
Unsalted butter: Creams with the sugar to trap air and adds richness and tenderness.
Granulated sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy creamed base.
Eggs: Yolks add richness and binding; whipped whites lighten the batter and add lift.
Sour milk: Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise and adds moisture.
Baking soda: Reacts with the sour milk's acidity to produce gas that leavens the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives lift; overmixing or deflating them while folding makes the cake dense and flat.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, milk, egg, brandy, nutmeg):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, milk, egg, brandy, nutmeg. 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.