Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rock Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
Mix the flour and baking powder, then rub in the lard until well combined.
Add the sugar, currants, and orange peel, stirring everything together.
Beat the egg and mix it with the milk, then pour into the mixture, stirring well.
Shape and bake
Butter a baking tin and lift pieces of the mixture roughly with two forks, dividing it into eighteen cakes.
Bake for 20 minutes.
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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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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Currant + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Lard or dripping
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the heat so the cakes rise and stay light.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and adds structure and richness.
- Milk
- Moistens the dough so it comes together and bakes softly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown slightly on the surface.
The step that matters
Shaping the cakes roughly with forks. Lifting the mixture loosely keeps it light and rough-textured. Pressing or overworking it develops structure and makes the cakes dense and tough.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, orange, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, orange, egg, 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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