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 ↓
Currant Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a warm oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a cake tin.
Melt the butter slightly, then beat the egg and mix it with the butter.
Add the milk to the mixture and stir well.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and crumbled dripping.
Wash and dry the currants, then add them to the flour mixture.
In a dry bowl, combine the carbonate of soda and tartaric acid.
Pour the milk and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring quickly until it effervesces.
Immediately pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
Bake
Bake for about 1 hour or until ready.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
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 main structure of the cake as its proteins set with heat.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the tartaric acid to release carbon dioxide, which makes the cake rise.
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with the carbonate of soda to produce gas for lift and gives a slight tang.
- Dripping or butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust as it bakes.
The step that matters
Stirring the milk and egg into the dry ingredients and baking straight away. The soda and acid start releasing gas as soon as they meet liquid. Stirring quickly and moving the batter into the tin at once keeps that gas in the batter, so the cake rises well in the oven rather than going flat.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk. 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.
More currant cake recipes
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.