Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Apple Cake
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 jelly
Boil the grated lemon rind, lemon juice, and grated apple with 1 cup of sugar for 5 minutes to make a jelly.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the flour and baking powder, mixing until combined.
Bake and assemble
Divide the batter into 4 layers and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Spread the jelly between the layers once baked.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb by coating the flour and sugar when creamed.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's main structure once its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and stay light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and the jelly, and softens the crumb.
- Sour apple
- Adds moisture and tartness to the jelly filling.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma to the jelly filling.
The step that matters
Boil the jelly for the full 5 minutes. Apple and lemon contain pectin, which thickens as the mixture cooks down and reduces. A shorter boil leaves a runny filling that soaks into the cake layers instead of staying between them.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, flour, lemon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, flour, lemon. 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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