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 ↓
Premium Marble 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 the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the granulated sugar and white butter until light and fluffy.
Add the sweet milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the butter mixture.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.
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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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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lift and an airy, light crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once mixed with the liquid ingredients.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- White butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and richness.
- Granulated sugar
- Creamed with butter to add sweetness and help create a light texture.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter comes together.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air in the batter so the cake rises light instead of deflating.
“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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