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 ↓
Cup Cakes, Plain
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a fairly hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture.
Stir in the milk, lemon rind, and juice.
Finally, fold in the flour mixture.
Bake in shallow tins or small cups at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 25 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.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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).
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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help hold the batter together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and lemon to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with baking soda to help the cupcakes rise.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cupcakes as its proteins set in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cupcakes and helps them brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Fold in the flour mixture. Folding gently keeps the air and gas bubbles in the batter. Overmixing develops gluten, which can make the cupcakes tough and dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, milk, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, milk, egg, cream. 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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