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 ↓
Whortleberry 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).
Beat the egg whites until stiff and set aside.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In another bowl, combine the flour, sifted meal, baking soda, and mace.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk or cream.
Gently fold in the egg whites and then the whortleberries, being careful not to mash them.
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 + 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).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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).
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
- Whites are beaten to add lift and airiness; yolks enrich the batter and add richness.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter for a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Whortleberries
- Add moisture, tartness and fruit flavor throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites and whortleberries. Stiffly beaten whites hold air that gives the cake its lift, and deflating them by vigorous stirring makes a dense cake. Dusting the berries with flour helps them stay suspended, and gentle folding keeps them from bursting and turning the batter purple.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour, milk. 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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