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 ↓
Cheese Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the butter to a cream.
Add the sugar and beat until white.
Add one egg at a time, beating continuously until all eggs are added.
When the mixture begins to oil, sift in a little flour.
Once all eggs are in and well beaten, gently mix in the remaining flour, baking powder, and essence of lemon.
Fill and bake
Line the pans with puff pastry and fill them half full.
Cut stripes of puff pastry to decorate the top.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Butter
- Beaten until creamy, it traps air and adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cakes rise and become light.
- Soft sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps create a light, creamed texture when beaten with butter.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually and beating well lets each one emulsify into the butter and sugar. Adding them too fast can cause the mixture to curdle or separate, which weakens the batter's structure and volume.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour. 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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