Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Currant 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.
Make the batter
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the whole egg and mix well, one at a time.
Stir in a little of the flour, then add the lemon rind and juice, and salt.
Gradually mix in the remaining flour and currants.
Shape and bake
Drop spoonfuls onto large buttered pans, pressing from the center to make them thin.
Let the cakes melt slightly on the pans before baking in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Ensure the pans are thoroughly buttered to prevent breaking when removing the cakes.
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 + 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the cakes spread and brown.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cakes and helps them brown as they bake.
- Whole egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to help the cakes rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas for lift.
- Graham flour
- Provides the main structure of the cakes.
The step that matters
Pressing the spoonfuls thin. Thick spoonfuls bake unevenly and stay doughy in the middle, while pressing them flat lets heat reach the center. Well-buttered pans also help the cakes release without breaking.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, cream, flour, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, cream, flour, lemon. 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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