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 ↓
Marion 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 bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk and vanilla extract.
In another bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.
Bake for 25-30 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.
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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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).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the cake tender and rich, and helps trap air when creamed with sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light, airy crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set, and help bind the batter and add moisture.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acid in the batter to release carbon dioxide, which makes the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to produce gas for rising.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.. Mixing too much after adding the flour develops gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense. Stop as soon as no dry flour streaks remain.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream, vanilla):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream, 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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