Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Rice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot 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
In a bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth.
Add the sweet cream and mix well.
Sift together the rice flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder.
Combine the dry ingredients with the wet mixture and season with lemon extract.
Bake
Pour the batter into patty pans and bake until golden.
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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Adds richness and tenderness through fat that coats the flour proteins.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.
- Eggs
- Provide structure as they set and bind the batter together.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the batter.
- Rice flour
- Gives a light, tender crumb with a slightly delicate texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the cakes rise.
The step that matters
Pour the batter into patty pans and bake until golden. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it is wet and heated, so batter should go into the hot oven promptly. Bake until golden, since over-baking dries the crumb and under-baking leaves the centre gummy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, cream, rice, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, cream, rice, 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.
More rice cake recipes
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.