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 ↓
White Loaf 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the powdered sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the flour, cornstarch, sweet milk, baking powder, and flavoring. Mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts the cake and gives it a light, airy crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with the sugar to trap air and add richness and a tender texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Cornstarch
- Softens the crumb, giving a finer, more tender texture than flour alone.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light, fluffy batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stirring too vigorously deflates the whipped whites and loses the air that lifts the cake. Fold gently, just until no streaks remain, so the loaf rises well and stays light.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg. 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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