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 ↓
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°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 the cakes
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in milk until just combined.
Divide batter between two greased cake pans.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Macerate the strawberries
While the cakes cool, mix strawberries with sugar and let sit.
Assemble and serve
Once cooled, slice the cakes in half horizontally.
Spread butter on the bottom layer, then add a layer of strawberries.
Repeat with another layer of cake and strawberries.
Top with remaining strawberries and finish with whipped cream or charlotte russe.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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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).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the cake crumb as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and turn light.
- Unsalted butter
- Cut into the flour to give the cake tenderness and a rich flavor.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a soft batter and adds moisture.
- Fresh strawberries
- Provide the fruity flavor and juicy filling between the layers.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the strawberries and draws out their juices as they sit.
The step that matters
Bake until golden, not longer. Overbaking dries the crumb and makes the cake crumbly. Baking until golden brown keeps the layers moist enough to hold the juicy strawberry filling.
“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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