Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Feather 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).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the 3 eggs and mix in the sugar.
Add the butter and mix well.
Sift the flour with the cream of tartar and salt, then fold into the egg mixture.
Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the batter.
Add flavoring to taste and mix until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 25-30 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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Beaten eggs provide structure and lift, setting the crumb as the cake bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and adds tenderness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter and helps stabilize the egg foam for a lighter texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda and adding it to the batter. Baking soda starts producing gas as soon as it meets acid and liquid, so the batter should go into the pan and the oven promptly to keep the rise strong.
“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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