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 says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly.
Add the stiffly beaten egg whites and then the milk.
Sift the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together twice, then add to the mixture, mixing well.
Lastly, fold in the chopped walnuts.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for forty minutes or more.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 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
- Whipped to foam, they trap air and give the cake lift and a light crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Its proteins form the cake's structure once mixed and baked.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter and stabilizes the whipped egg whites, helping them hold their volume.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Walnuts
- Add texture and a nutty flavor throughout the crumb.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites and sifting the dry ingredients. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift, so they should be stirred in gently and the batter mixed no more than needed. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten and makes the cake tough and dense.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cream):
- Almondfits better
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cream. 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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