Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
White 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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Sift the cream of tartar with the flour and add to the butter mixture.
Dissolve the baking soda in the sweet milk and add to the mixture.
Fold in the egg whites gently until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) 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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,371 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped air and structure that lift the batter and set as the cake bakes.
- Butter
- Fat that adds tenderness and richness, and helps trap air when creamed with sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetness that also helps trap air when creamed with butter, and aids browning.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- An acid that reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise and keeps the egg whites stable.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites gently until well combined.. Egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Overmixing knocks that air out, leaving a dense, flat cake, so fold just until no streaks remain.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, flour, cream, milk, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, flour, cream, milk, vanilla. 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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