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 ↓
Prince of Wales 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, currants, lemon rind, lemon juice, and baking soda.
Add the beaten eggs, gin, and a little milk to the mixture. Stir well.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake
Bake for about 30‑40 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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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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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as the batter sets in the oven.
- Unsalted butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic lemon juice to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown its surface and tenderize the crumb.
The step that matters
Combining the wet and dry ingredients. Baking soda needs an acid, such as the lemon juice, to release gas for rising. Mixing until smooth without overworking helps keep the crumb tender while the batter holds its rise.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, lemon, egg, gin, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, lemon, egg, gin, 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.
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