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 ↓
White 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Add the egg whites and bake
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter along with the lemon juice.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 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.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they provide structure and lift to the batter.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Corn starch
- Softens the crumb by diluting the flour's gluten, giving a finer texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them vigorously or overmixing deflates the foam, leaving a dense cake. Fold gently and only until just combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, corn, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, corn, egg. 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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