Name: Merry Christmas Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 cup cornflour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup butter; 8 egg whites; 1 cup milk; Icing; Grated coconut

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 ↓

Merry Christmas Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mix flour, cornflour, and baking powder in a bowl.
Rub in the butter until smooth.

Make and bake the batter

Beat in the egg whites and milk until well combined.
Pour the batter into flat cake tins.
Bake until done.

Ice and finish

Spread icing with grated coconut between layers, on top, and around the sides.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,648 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,467 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure of the cake as its starch and protein set during baking.
Cornflour: Adds tenderness by diluting gluten, giving a finer, softer crumb.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender texture, and helps carry flavor.
Egg whites: Add protein that helps bind and set the batter, giving structure and lift.
Milk: Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter forms a smooth mixture.