Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Queen Cakes
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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs two at a time until well combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, carbonate of soda, tartaric acid, and currants.
Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.
Pour the batter into greased patty pans.
Bake
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a rich, tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as the cake sets.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the tartaric acid to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with the carbonate of soda to release gas for lift and adds a slight tang.
- Fine white sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.
The step that matters
Gradually adding the dry mixture. Adding the flour mixture in portions and stirring only until combined keeps the batter smooth and prevents overmixing, which would toughen the cake. The leavening reaction is best kept gentle so the rise stays even.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour. 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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