Name: Scotch Oat Cakes
Ingredients: 2 eggs, well beaten; 1 cup sugar; 3 cups rolled oats; 1 tablespoon butter; 2 teaspoons baking powder

Why it works: Oats and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,939 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Scotch Oat Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and bake

In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs, sugar, rolled oats, melted butter, and baking powder until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking pan, leaving space for spreading.
Bake until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Oats + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,939 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + oatstop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the oats and sugar together and add structure as the mixture sets.
Rolled oats: Provide the bulk and chewy texture of the oatcakes.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown in the oven.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender bite.
Baking powder: Releases gas that lifts the mixture and lightens its texture.

“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.