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 ↓
Bride Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and beaten egg whites, mixing well.
Sift the baking powder into the cornstarch and flour, then gradually beat it into the mixture.
Add flavoring to taste.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into a prepared baking pan and bake until golden.
Once cooled, ice the top as desired.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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).
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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
- Egg whites
- Beaten light, they add structure and lift to the crumb as the cake sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Cornstarch
- Lightens the crumb and gives the cake a tender, fine texture.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and tenderness.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter to build a light structure and add sweetness.
The step that matters
Folding in the dry ingredients. Sifting the baking powder into the cornstarch and flour and beating in gradually keeps the batter even and airy. Overbeating after the egg whites are added can knock out the air they hold, leading to a dense 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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