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 ↓
Fairy Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Gradually add the flour.
Finally, mix in the minced cherries and grated lemon rind.
Fill and bake
Butter small tins and fill half with the mixture.
Color the remaining mixture pale pink and fill the other tins.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Sugar + flourtop 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 + 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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cakes a light, tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
- Self-raising flour
- Forms the cake's structure, and its included raising agent helps the cakes rise.
- Castor sugar
- Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, helps aerate the batter.
- Glace cherries
- Add sweetness, fruity flavor and moisture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs one at a time. Beating each egg in fully before the next keeps the emulsion stable. Adding eggs too fast can curdle the creamed butter and sugar, leading to a heavy, uneven crumb.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg. 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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