Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Rich Queen Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate 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).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the Cottolene, butter, and sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the essence of vanilla.
Gradually add the flour and currants, mixing until well combined.
Bake
Spoon the mixture into well-greased patty pans or fancy Queen Cake shapes.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 and cottolene
- Fat that coats flour particles and creams with sugar to give the cake its tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with the fat, aiding lightness.
- Currants
- Add chewy bursts of sweetness and fruit flavour throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs one at a time. Beating each egg fully into the creamed fat and sugar keeps the emulsion stable. If eggs are added too quickly the batter can curdle, which can make the finished cake coarse and heavy.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, flour. 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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