Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Dutch Apple 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 dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix the baking powder with the flour and add a pinch of salt.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat the egg lightly and mix it with the milk.
Pour the milk mixture over the flour and mix into a soft dough.
Top and bake
Spread the dough over a large pan to about ½ inch thick.
Pare the apples, cut them into eighths, and arrange them in rows on the dough.
Sprinkle sugar over the top.
Bake for 20 to 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + buttertop 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).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Flour and butter 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the soft dough as its proteins and starch set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, lifting the dough so the cake rises and stays light.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour, it adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds richness and structure as it sets.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and forms a soft, pliable dough.
- Apples
- Release moisture and natural sweetness as they bake, keeping the cake juicy.
The step that matters
Rub in the butter until coarse crumbs form. Cutting cold butter into flour leaves small fat pockets that keep the cake tender; overworking the mixture develops gluten and makes it tough.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, sugar, egg, butter. 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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