Why it works: Rice and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 423 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Rice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Weigh the eggs in their shells and measure out the same weight in sugar and butter.
Measure out half the weight of the eggs in rice flour and half in wheat flour.
Make the batter
Mix the sugar and eggs until well combined.
Gradually add the flours, mixing until smooth.
Melt the butter and fold it into the batter.
Add any desired flavoring before baking.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake
Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Rice + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together423 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness as they set during baking, and lift the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the cake a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a moist, tender texture and rich flavor.
- Rice flour
- Contributes starch for a light, delicate crumb.
- Wheat flour
- Provides gluten and structure to hold the cake together.
The step that matters
Folding in the melted butter. Melted butter must be folded in gently and evenly so the batter stays aerated; overmixing deflates it and can make the cake dense and greasy.
“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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