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 ↓
Orange 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and melted butter.
Add the sweet milk and mix well.
Sift in the flour and baking powder, then mix until smooth.
Beat the egg yolks and add to the mixture.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold into the batter.
Bake and frost
Pour the batter into greased cake pans and bake until golden.
For the frosting, mix the juice and grated rind of one orange with powdered sugar and the reserved egg white.
Spread the frosting between the layers of the cake.
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 + 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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Milk + flourtop 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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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
- Eggs
- Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks add lift and an airy crumb, while yolks add richness.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps give it a tender crumb and golden browning.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture to the batter and helps it blend into a smooth mixture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them in vigorously or letting the batter sit too long deflates the foam, leaving a dense cake.
“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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