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 ↓
Cream Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Beat the yolks of the eggs with 1 cup of sugar.
Add the water and flour, then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour the batter into 3 or 4 round cake tins and bake until golden.
Make the filling
Scald 1 pint of milk with 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ cup of butter.
Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with a little milk, then stir into the hot milk mixture until smooth.
Assemble
Spread the filling between the layers of cake once cooled.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Yolks enrich the batter and whites, beaten and folded in, give the cake its light structure.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the filling.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the filling, giving it a creamy, moist body.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the hot milk mixture so the filling sets into a smooth cream.
The step that matters
Stir the cornstarch into the hot milk until smooth. Cornstarch clumps if added undiluted to hot liquid. Mixing it with a little cold milk first lets the starch disperse, so when heated it thickens evenly into a smooth filling.
“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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