Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Scotch Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Rub the butter with your hands in a large bowl.
Sift the flour, sugar, and baking soda together into the bowl.
Mix with your hands until a dough forms.
Shape and bake
Prepare a baking pan with buttered paper.
Place the dough on the paper and press to your desired thickness.
Prick the top with a fork.
Bake for about 20 minutes in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C).
Cut into squares while hot, directly after removing from the oven.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Provides fat that makes the cake rich and tender.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough as it sets in the oven.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help it rise and lighten slightly.
The step that matters
Cut into squares while hot, directly after removing from the oven.. The cake is still soft when hot and firms as it cools. Cutting it right after baking keeps the pieces clean and prevents them from cracking or breaking apart.
“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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