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 ↓
White Layer Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add a little of the water and a cup of flour, mixing until all is used; beat thoroughly.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the mixture.
Sift in the baking powder with a little flour as the last step.
Bake and assemble
Bake in layers and assemble with boiled icing.
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 + 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 create a tender, structured crumb and rich flavour.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with butter.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the layers rise and become light.
- Egg whites
- Beaten until stiff, they trap air and add lift and structure to the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that gives the cake lift. Stirring vigorously deflates them, so fold gently with a spatula until just combined.
“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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