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 ↓
Breakfast Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the milk, flour, eggs, and softened butter until smooth.
Add the cream of tartar and baking soda, and stir until well combined.
Cook the cakes
Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the tablespoon of butter.
Pour batter onto the skillet to form cakes and cook until bubbles form on the surface.
Flip and cook until golden brown on both sides.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 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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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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they cook.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set firmly in the pan.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so baking soda reacts properly, producing gas that lightens the cakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas, making the cakes rise.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter a pourable, tender texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the cakes over medium heat. Batter cooked too hot browns before the centre sets and can leave it raw, while cooking too gently prevents browning. Wait for bubbles to form on the surface before flipping so the cake has set enough to turn without tearing.
“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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