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 ↓
Corn Starch Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy.
In another bowl, mix the corn starch and flour.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the beaten eggs to the butter and sugar mixture.
Sift the yeast through the flour mixture and combine.
Stir in the sweet milk last.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes.
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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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and lift when beaten, helping the cake set and hold its airy crumb.
- Corn starch
- Gives a tender, fine crumb and a light texture, since it contains no gluten.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the cake holds its shape while baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture, and helps carry flavor.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, traps air that helps the cake rise.
- Powdered yeast
- Acts as a leavening agent to help the cake rise during baking.
The step that matters
Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating butter and sugar until light and fluffy traps air in the fat, which gives lift and a fine crumb. Underbeaten or melted butter produces 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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