Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Vanity 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Mix the corn starch with the baking powder and add to the creamed mixture.
Gradually add the flour and milk, mixing until smooth.
Flavor the batter with lemon and vanilla extracts.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 the sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Corn starch
- Softens the crumb, giving a finer, more tender texture than flour alone.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter forms a smooth, pourable mix.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while tenderising the crumb.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour and milk, mixing until smooth. Adding flour and liquid in alternating portions and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter from becoming overworked. Overmixing develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, butter, milk, flour, vanilla):
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, butter, milk, flour, vanilla. 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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