Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Corn Starch Cake
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Stir in the flour, milk, corn starch, and baking powder until combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.
Add lemon or vanilla extract to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lightens the cake's texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and emulsify with the butter for a tender crumb.
- Corn starch
- Lightens the crumb and gives a softer, more tender texture than flour alone.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavor and a tender, moist crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently preserves the air whipped into the egg whites. Stirring or deflating the foam makes the cake denser and less airy after baking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, flour, milk, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, flour, milk, corn. 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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