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 ↓
French Loaf 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
Combine sugar, butter, eggs, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Beat until frothy.
Add milk and lemon flavoring, mixing well.
Gradually add flour, stirring until fully incorporated.
Bake
Pour the batter into a cake tin lined with buttered paper.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure once its gluten develops and the cake sets.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay moist.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic partner to baking soda, helping the cake rise and stabilising the batter.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour, stirring until fully incorporated. Adding flour gradually and stopping once it is combined keeps the batter smooth and avoids overmixing, which would develop too much gluten and make the cake tough. The leavening reaction starts as soon as the acid and base meet, so the batter should go into the tin and oven promptly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, 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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