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Dessert

White Cake

A light, fluffy cake made with butter, sugar, flour, milk, egg whites, baking powder, and flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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White Cake

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 Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and sugar by hand until it is a soft, white cream.

  2. Add 1 cup of flour and mix well.

  3. Stir in the milk and then add another cup of flour.

  4. Fold in the egg whites and then add the final cup of flour along with the baking powder and flavoring.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Do not open the oven door until the cake is nearly done to prevent it from becoming heavy.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Egg whites
Trap air when folded in, adding lift and a light, airy structure.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, when creamed, helps trap air for a lighter texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, causing the batter to rise.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and keeps the crumb soft.

The step that matters

Keep the oven door closed until the cake is nearly done. Opening the door lets heat escape and drops the oven temperature suddenly. The rising batter can then collapse or set unevenly, leaving a heavy, sunken 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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