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 ↓
German Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat the egg and add the milk, then mix into the dry ingredients to form a soft dough.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough out to about ½ inch thick and place it in a shallow pan.
Cover the top with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter or cream.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.
Optionally, roll the dough to ½ inch thick and layer with almonds, apples, or peaches before baking.
Serve
Serve hot or cold, with cream if desired.
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 + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with liquid.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough, helping it rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour, it adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds richness and structure.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that brings the dry ingredients together into a soft dough.
The step that matters
Rubbing in the butter. Butter should be rubbed into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Pieces of fat coating the flour keep the crumb tender, while overworking the mixture can make the cake tough.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, milk, flour):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Parsleyfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, milk, flour. 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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