Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓
Short 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).
In a bowl, combine flour and salt.
In a separate bowl, dissolve baking soda in a little boiling water and stir into the sour cream.
Melt the butter and add it to the sour cream mixture.
Stir the sour cream mixture into the flour until combined.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough as you would for biscuits.
Divide the dough into two layers and place in a round pan.
Bake until golden brown.
Assemble and serve
Once baked, separate the layers and spread butter between them.
Top with prepared fruits before serving.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the shortcake together as it bakes.
- Rich sour cream
- Adds moisture and tenderness, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to produce gas that helps the shortcake rise.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and separates the layers with a moist fat.
The step that matters
Stir the sour cream mixture into the flour until combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which can make the shortcake tough instead of tender. Stir just until no dry flour remains.
“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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