Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Yeast Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk over low heat, ensuring the milk doesn't get too hot.
In a bowl, combine the flour and sugar, then stir in the melted milk and butter mixture, the yeast dissolved in a little cold milk, and the well-beaten eggs to form a smooth dough.
Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Once risen, fold in the currants and thinly sliced candied peel.
Shape and bake
Line two moderate-sized cake tins with greased paper, extending the paper 6 inches above the tins.
Pour the mixture into the tins and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 to 1½ hours, covering with paper if the tops brown too quickly.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough that holds the cake's shape.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness to the dough as they set during baking.
- Distillery yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and helps hydrate the flour into a dough.
- Currants
- Add sweetness and fruitiness scattered through the cake.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs warmth and time to produce gas that expands the dough. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while over-proofed dough can collapse and lose its structure.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, butter, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, butter, egg, sugar. 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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