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 ↓
Angels’ Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix the sugar with the beaten egg whites.
Cream the butter and mix it with the sugar and eggs.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the milk and add it to the mixture.
Gradually add the flour mixed with cream of tartar, working it in with a fork.
Flavor with lemon or vanilla.
Bake and finish
Spread the mixture in a thin sheet in a baking pan.
Bake until done.
Spread icing over the top and sides.
Sprinkle with grated coconut.
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).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into the batter to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with the sugar to add fat, which tenderises the crumb and gives richness.
- Flour
- Provides the protein and starch that set during baking to form the cake's structure.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the bicarbonate of soda to release gas and lighten the crumb.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the batter and dissolves easily, helping create a fine, tender texture.
The step that matters
Gradually adding the flour mixed with cream of tartar. Flour should be worked in gently and only until combined. Overmixing develops gluten and toughens the cake, and it can deflate the air trapped by the egg whites.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour, 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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