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 ↓
Beautiful Layer Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a medium oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream together the sugar and butter until smooth.
Add the milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and then fold them into the mixture.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the batter.
Sift together the baking powder and flour, then gradually add to the mixture, stirring until just combined.
Add flavoring to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake in a moderate oven 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.
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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Milk + flourtop 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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and structure, while whipped whites lighten the batter and help it rise.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, causing the cake to rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps tenderize the crumb while creaming with butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and creaming with sugar traps air in the batter.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it mixes and bakes evenly.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the foam and leaves a dense, flat cake.
“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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