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 ↓
Nut Cakes
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.
Prepare the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the softened butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar, then gradually add to the butter mixture.
Fold in the finely ground hickory nuts.
Shape and bake
Chill the dough in a cold place.
Roll the dough very thin and cut into desired shapes.
Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden.
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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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
- Creams with sugar to create a light, fluffy structure and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the dough as they are mixed in.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cakes as they bake.
- Hickory nut kernels
- Add nutty flavor and texture to the dough.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic components to help the cakes rise and brown.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the dough, supporting the leavening reaction with baking soda.
The step that matters
Roll the dough very thin. Thin dough bakes quickly and evenly, so it turns crisp and lightly golden before it can over-brown or dry out in the center.
“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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