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 ↓
Coen Starch Cake
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the sweet milk to the butter mixture and mix well.
Sift together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Make the batter
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, folding gently.
Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Corn starch
- Softens the crumb by diluting gluten, giving a finer, more delicate texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilizing the egg whites and helping the leavening react.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them vigorously or letting them deflate before baking makes the cake dense, so fold gently and only until just combined.
“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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