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 ↓
Lemon 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.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and eggs, mixing well.
Gradually add the flour and baking powder, stirring until combined.
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake until golden.
Make and spread the icing
For the icing, beat the egg whites and mix in the lemon juice and sugar until smooth.
Spread the icing thickly between the layers, on top, and around the sides.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Provide structure as they set in the oven and add richness and moisture to the crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once mixed with liquid and heat sets the batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes airy.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with lemon juice and sugar to form a smooth, glossy icing that holds its shape.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright lemon flavor that balances the sweetness of the cake and icing.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour and baking powder, stirring until combined. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Stir only until no dry flour remains.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour. 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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