Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
A Rich Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the currants, citron, and lemon peel the day before mixing the cake.
Line a deep pan with buttered paper, extending it above the pan.
Mix the batter
The next morning, cream the butter with your hands.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Gradually add the sugar, currants, and peel, mixing thoroughly.
Slowly work in the flour until fully combined.
Finally, add the spirits and mix well.
Bake and finish
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake slowly until done.
Frost the cake while it is still warm.
The longer this cake is kept, the better it will taste.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Currant + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set during baking.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor, and traps air when creamed.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb while creaming with butter.
- Currants
- Add fruity sweetness and moisture to the cake.
The step that matters
Cream the butter with your hands. Softened butter beaten until light traps air that helps the cake rise and gives a fine texture. Butter that is too cold or too warm will not hold air well, so the batter can turn dense or greasy.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, lemon, butter, egg, spirit):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, lemon, butter, egg, spirit. 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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