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 ↓
Walnut 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).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the sweet milk and baking powder.
Gradually add flour until the batter reaches a thick consistency.
Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or 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 + walnuttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,832 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + walnuttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,236 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat that creams with sugar to trap air and give a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, browned crust when creamed with butter.
- Walnuts
- Add texture and a nutty flavor, with some fat that adds moisture.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the batter reaches a thick consistency. Adding flour too quickly or overmixing develops gluten, which can make the cake tough. Stop mixing once the batter is just combined and thick, so the crumb stays tender.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, milk):
- Pecansfits better
- Almondfits better
- Cocoafits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk. 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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