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 ↓
Sweet Short Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the butter and sugar together for 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the egg and beat for 3 minutes.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and mix with the cream of tartar.
Sift the flour and combine with the milk mixture.
Do not make the batter stiff; it should be quite thin.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into two well-buttered jelly tins.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden.
Serve with strawberries.
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
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the butter hold air when beaten.
- Egg
- Adds structure and moisture and helps bind the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar and milk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic partner to the baking soda, producing gas for lift and a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
The step that matters
Keep the batter thin. A stiff batter traps less gas and bakes dense, so it should be quite thin. Work quickly after the baking soda and cream of tartar are combined, since the leavening reaction starts right away and loses strength while the batter waits.
“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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