Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bread, Cakes, Biscuits, Etc
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare the baking tins with parchment paper.
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. If the butter is stiff, warm the bowl slightly to soften it without melting.
Make the batter
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Incorporate the flavoring.
Gently fold in the sifted flour without overmixing.
Optionally, add a tablespoon of sherry for extra flavor.
Top and bake
Pour the batter into the prepared tins, leaving space for rising.
Top with strips of orange peel.
Dredge the strips with sugar.
Lightly sprinkle with water.
Bake until the tops are a rich brown and no longer moist, about 25-30 minutes. Do not open the oven door until the cakes are set to prevent sinking.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sherry + orangetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together823 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, fine crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set and help bind the batter together.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the cake's main structure once its proteins set during baking.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown at the top while adding tenderness.
The step that matters
Folding in the flour. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense. Fold gently, just until no dry flour shows.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, sherry):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, sherry. 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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