Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Banana Layer 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.
Make the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and then add them to the mixture.
Gradually stir in the flour until well combined.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Add the mashed banana and mix until just combined.
Bake and ice
Pour the batter into greased cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For the icing, beat the reserved egg whites and gradually add the powdered sugar until smooth.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + bananatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,470 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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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).
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
- Egg yolks enrich the batter and whites, whipped to stiff peaks, lighten its structure.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy texture when creamed with butter.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
- Ripe banana
- Adds moisture, natural sweetness, and banana flavor to the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them in vigorously knocks out that air, leaving a denser cake, so fold gently until just combined.
Swap the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, flour, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, flour, 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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