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 ↓
Birthday 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
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.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until smooth.
Pour the batter into a large dripping pan.
Bake and decorate
Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Frost the cake heavily once cooled.
When the frosting is partly dry, mark it into small squares and place half a walnut on each square.
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 give the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for structure and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure, moisture, and richness.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise and stabilizes texture.
The step that matters
Adding the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Mixing too vigorously after adding flour develops gluten, which can make the cake tough. Mix only until the batter is smooth so the crumb stays tender.
“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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