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 ↓
Hollis 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the baking soda with half of the milk.
In another bowl, combine the egg yolks with the remaining milk.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk mixture with egg yolks to the creamed mixture and mix well.
Sift in the flour, cream of tartar, and lemon juice, and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 50-60 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 + 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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Milk + flourtop 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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter to aerate the batter and adds sweetness and browning.
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and structure; whipped whites add lift to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and lemon juice to help the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilizes the whipped whites and helps leavening.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that lifts the cake. Overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates them, leaving a dense crumb, so fold gently just until no streaks remain.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, 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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