Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
A Plain Currant Cake
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 large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, dripping (or butter), and currants.
Make and bake
Warm the milk, then pour it over the baking soda and tartaric acid; stir until it effervesces.
Quickly mix the effervesced milk with the egg and dry ingredients.
Pour the batter into a greased tin and bake for about 1 hour.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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).
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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the tartaric acid and milk to release carbon dioxide, which makes the cake rise.
- Tartaric acid
- Acts with the baking soda to produce gas bubbles, giving the cake lift and a slightly sharp note.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins and starches set during baking.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and activates the leavening when warmed and combined with the acid and soda.
The step that matters
Quickly mix the effervesced milk with the egg and dry ingredients. The carbon dioxide from the baking soda and tartaric acid escapes steadily once formed. Mixing promptly and gently keeps the gas in the batter, so the cake rises well in the oven.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar, nutmeg. 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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