Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Dessert 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.
Prepare the mold
Clean and dry the mold thoroughly, then warm the mold.
Brush the warm mold with butter.
Turn the mold upside down to drain excess butter.
Dust the mold with sifted flour and knock out any excess flour.
Bake
Place the mold, small end down, in a stable tin.
Fill the mold three-fourths full with the cake mixture.
Bake in a steady heat at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Once baked, remove the cake from the mold and let it cool.
Ice and dry
Prepare icing thin enough to run smoothly but not off the cake.
Place the cake on a plate and spoon the icing on top, allowing it to run down the sides.
Let the icing drain for a minute.
Transfer the cake to another plate and set it in a warm place to dry.
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.
-
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
- Sponge cake mixture
- Forms the body and crumb of the cake once baked.
- Butter
- Greases the mold so the cake releases cleanly and browns lightly.
- Sifted flour
- Dusted on the greased mold to create a thin layer that helps the cake release.
- Icing
- Forms a smooth glaze over the cake that runs down the sides.
The step that matters
Icing consistency. Icing must be thin enough to run smoothly down the sides but not so thin that it runs off the cake entirely. Too thick and it will not coat evenly; too thin and it will pool on the plate and leave the top bare.
“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.
More dessert cake recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.