Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Walnut 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and softened butter, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Divide the batter into two greased cake pans.
Bake and assemble
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool, then layer them with boiled icing and walnut meats in between and on top.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,035 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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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
- Eggs
- Beaten with sugar to trap air, giving the cake lift and a light, fluffy crumb.
- Sugar
- Beaten with the eggs to add sweetness and help create a light, airy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, contributing tenderness and flavor to the crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as the batter bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Walnut meats
- Used as filling and topping, adding nutty flavor and crunch.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and stirring just until smooth keeps the batter evenly mixed and limits gluten development, which helps prevent a tough, dense cake.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, butter, flour, meat):
- Almondfits better
- Walnutthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, butter, flour, meat. 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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