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 ↓
Puff 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).
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
Sift the cream of tartar with the flour.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk mixture and the flour mixture alternately.
If desired, add the grated lemon rind and juice.
Bake
Pour the batter into a large flat pan or layer pans.
Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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).
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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure and moisture, and help bind the batter as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas that makes the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that reacts with the baking soda to produce lift and a lighter crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown during baking.
The step that matters
Stir in the milk mixture and the flour mixture alternately. Baking soda and cream of tartar start producing gas once wet, so the batter should go into the pan and oven promptly. Adding the wet and dry parts in alternating portions keeps the batter evenly mixed without overworking the flour, which would toughen the crumb.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, milk, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, milk, egg, cream. 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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