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 ↓
Sandwich Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Cream the sugar and butter together until smooth.
Beat the egg yolks and add them to the creamed mixture.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then mix into the batter.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the batter gently.
Add the cream of tartar, milk, and lemon extract, mixing well.
Bake and fill
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Once cooled, fill with your choice of jelly, custard, or coconut.
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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Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,648 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air that lifts the batter, while yolks add richness and structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites into the batter. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a dense cake, so fold gently with a spatula until just combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, flour, cream, milk, coconut):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, flour, cream, milk, coconut. 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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