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 ↓
Rice 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).
Weigh the eggs and measure out the same weight in sugar and butter.
Measure half the weight of the eggs in rice flour and half in all-purpose flour.
Make the batter
Mix the sugar and eggs until well combined.
Add the flours and mix until smooth.
If using, melt the butter and fold it into the batter.
Add any flavoring you like before baking.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake
Bake for about 1 hour and 10 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.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 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
- Provide structure and lift as they set, and the weight sets the amounts of the other ingredients.
- Fine sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the cake tender and moist.
- Rice flour
- Adds a light, tender crumb with a delicate texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides gluten for structure so the cake holds its shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness, moisture and a softer texture.
The step that matters
Mix the sugar and eggs until well combined. Beating eggs with sugar traps air that gives the cake its rise. Stopping early leaves a dense crumb, while the flours should be mixed only until smooth so gluten does not overdevelop.
“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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