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 ↓
Indian 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
In another bowl, combine the molasses, egg, milk, and melted butter.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Cornmeal
- Provides the coarse, grainy texture that sets this cake apart from wheat-only cakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Gives the cake its main structure as the gluten network sets during baking.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the crumb as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the cake.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity that works with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture with a deep, rich flavor.
The step that matters
Stir the wet and dry ingredients just until combined. Once liquid meets flour, gluten starts to develop. Overmixing makes the cake tough and dense, and the leavening gas released by the baking soda and cream of tartar is lost if the batter sits too long before baking.
“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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