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 ↓
A Cheap Seed 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
Melt the butter with the milk over medium heat in a saucepan.
Mix the flour, sugar, and allspice in a large bowl.
Pour the milk and butter mixture into the flour mixture.
Stir until it forms a paste.
Add the ale yeast and mix well.
Let the dough rise in a warm place.
Fold in currants or caraway seeds if desired.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Bake the mixture in two cakes for 1.5 hours.
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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Allspice + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,359 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,302 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).
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
- Forms the main structure of the cake batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Whole milk
- Provides moisture and helps form the paste-like batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning in the bake.
- Ale yeast
- Produces gas during rising, lightening the dough.
The step that matters
Let the dough rise in a warm place. Yeast activity depends on warmth; a cool spot slows rising, so the cakes may come out dense. Allow the dough to rise until visibly enlarged before baking.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, milk, sugar, allspice):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, sugar, allspice. 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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