Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
Pound Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them until very light.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the sugar and butter, and beat until creamy.
Stir in the flour and beaten eggs alternately, mixing well after each addition.
Add the grated lemon rind, salt, and brandy, and stir until thoroughly blended.
Grease a cake tin and pour the batter into it.
Bake and cool
Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Once done, place the cake on a sieve to cool.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + eggtop 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).
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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and adds richness and tender texture.
- Eggs
- Provide structure as they set, and their beaten air adds lightness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for aeration and adds sweetness and browning.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavour and moisture to the batter.
The step that matters
Beating the butter and sugar until creamy. Creaming works air into the fat, which gives the batter lift in the oven. Under-creaming leaves a dense cake, while the batter should not be overbeaten once flour is added, since extra mixing toughens the crumb.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, brandy):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, brandy. 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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