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 Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
Add ⅓ cup of water and 1 cup of flour, then beat thoroughly.
Continue adding the second cup of flour and beat well.
Sift the baking powder into the last cup of flour and add it to the mixture along with the remaining water.
Finish and bake
Fold in the well-beaten egg whites carefully.
Bake in layers and use boiled icing for filling.
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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Butter + sugartop 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
- Adds richness and tenderness, and creaming it with sugar traps air in the batter.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air for a lighter crumb.
- Pastry flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making the cake rise.
- Egg whites
- Trap air when beaten, adding lightness and helping the cake rise and set.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites carefully. The whites hold air beaten into them that helps the cake rise. Stirring or pressing them hard deflates that air, leaving a denser, heavier cake.
“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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