Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Pound 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).
Grease and flour a 10‑inch tube pan.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk.
Stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake and cool
Bake for 60‑70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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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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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving a tender, fine-textured crumb and rich flavor.
- Granulated sugar
- Creams with butter to create air bubbles and adds sweetness and browning.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and their proteins help set the crumb as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps loosen the batter for even mixing.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking to give the cake lift.
The step that matters
Alternating the dry ingredients with the milk. Adding flour in portions alongside the milk keeps the batter smooth and limits gluten development. Adding it all at once or overmixing can make the cake dense and tough.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, 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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