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 ↓
Sultana 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grease a cake pan.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the grated lemon rind and candied peel.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, alternating with milk until smooth.
Fold in the sultanas.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake
Bake for about 30-40 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 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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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's main structure once it sets in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a soft, tender texture when creamed with butter.
- Sultanas
- Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the dry ingredients alternately with milk. Adding flour in portions and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter from overdeveloping gluten, which would make the cake tough. Alternating with milk keeps the batter moist and easy to combine.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, butter, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, butter, 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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