Why it works: Sugar and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Treacle Parkins
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
In a large bowl, mix the oatmeal, treacle, and sugar together.
Melt the butter and add it to the mixture.
Stir until well combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Let cool before serving.
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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oatmeal
- Provides the bulk and body that holds the cake together.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a rich, dark flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, more tender texture.
The step that matters
Baking until set. Underbaking leaves the centre wet and loose, while overbaking dries the treacle-sweetened mixture and makes it firm and crumbly. Watching for a set centre helps the cake hold together when cut.
“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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