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 ↓
Tennis Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Gradually add the flour, moistening with the egg yolks and stiffly beaten egg whites.
Stir in the cornflour and then add the fruit.
Pour the mixture into a cake tin lined with thick paper, without greasing.
Bake
Bake for about 10 minutes, then lower the temperature and bake slowly until done.
Check with a skewer; when it comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven.
Ice and decorate
Once cool, cover with almond icing made from 1⅓ cups ground almonds, 1 cup caster sugar, 1 whole egg, and 1 egg white, plus a few drops of almond essence.
Place the cake in a warm oven until the icing sets, then decorate with green sugar or finely chopped pistachio kernels.
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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Butter + flourtop 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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Yolks moisten the batter and whites, beaten stiff, add structure and lift.
- Coombs' flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Cornflour
- Lightens the crumb and softens the texture, since it has less gluten than flour.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps build a light texture.
The step that matters
Checking doneness with a skewer. The cake is baked slowly after an initial burst of heat, so underbaking leaves a gummy centre while overbaking dries it out. A skewer that comes out clean shows the crumb has set.
“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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