Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Cornflour Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot 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).
Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs.
Beat the yolks and whites separately for 30 minutes.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Mix the creamed butter and sugar with the egg yolks.
Fold in the beaten egg whites and then the cornflour.
Whisk all ingredients together for 25 minutes.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 1 hour.
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornflour
- Provides the main structure, setting as the cake bakes and cooks through.
- Eggs
- Trap air for lift and help bind the batter, adding structure and richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a lighter texture.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the whites, which gives the cake its lift. Stirring or deflating them vigorously makes the cake dense.
“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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