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 ↓
Buttercup Cake
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. The book gives no cooking times; 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).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the egg yolks and whole egg, mixing well.
Stir in the milk.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and mace or orange extract.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until smooth.
Pour the batter into two greased cake pans or small round tins.
Bake and finish
Bake until the cake shrinks from the sides of the pan, about 25-30 minutes.
Let cool, then frost with yellow frosting and decorate with candied fruit.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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 fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness; the yolks add tenderness and colour.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, browned crust.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to lift the batter as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding dry ingredients in portions and mixing until smooth keeps the batter evenly combined, so the flour hydrates uniformly and the cake bakes with an even texture rather than lumps or dense pockets.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream. 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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