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 ↓
Corx Starch 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 batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the sweet milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until smooth.
Add the egg whites and bake
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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, it traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lift and structure to the cake.
- Corn starch
- Lightens the flour, producing a finer, more tender and delicate crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar and batter acidity to help the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, stabilising them so they whip to stiffer peaks.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stirring vigorously knocks air out of the whipped whites, so the cake rises less and turns dense. Fold gently, only until no white streaks remain.
“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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