Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pineapple Rings
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Mix the batter
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy, slightly warming the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and beaten eggs, and beat for 3 to 10 minutes.
Stir in the baking powder.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased 9-inch square baking tin.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Turn out the cake and remove the paper.
Cut and assemble
Use a 3-inch round cutter to stamp out rounds.
Use a 1-inch cutter to stamp out the centers.
Make openings in the large and small rounds with a knife.
Pour a little pineapple juice into the openings.
Slice the pineapple into ½-inch thick rounds.
Stamp the pineapple slices with the 3-inch cutter.
Place the pineapple slices on the large rounds.
Top with the small rounds.
Finish with half a candied cherry.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + pineappletop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Bind the batter and give the cake structure as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, tenderizing the crumb and carrying flavour.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, traps air for a lighter texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
The step that matters
Beating after the flour is added. Once flour is mixed in, beating develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Beat only until the batter is smooth and evenly combined, rather than running the full time out of habit.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg. 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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