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 ↓
Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a 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 in a large bowl.
Add the beaten eggs and mix well.
Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until combined.
Stir in the currants and sugar.
Work in the milk until the mixture is smooth.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a buttered cake tin.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours, or longer if necessary.
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 + flourtop 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).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Adds richness and a tender crumb by coating the flour and carrying flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during baking to give the cake its structure.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
- Currants
- Add fruit pieces, sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust and keep the crumb moist.
The step that matters
Working in the milk until smooth. Overmixing once the flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Mix just until the batter is smooth and evenly combined.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, flour, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, flour, sugar, milk. 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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