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 ↓
Caramel 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 cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and milk, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Pour the batter into jelly pans and bake until golden.
Make the caramel
For the caramel, combine brown sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens.
Spread the caramel over the baked cake.
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 + 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).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Add structure and richness to the batter as they set during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, tenderizing the crumb and carrying flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while creaming aerates the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Brown sugar
- Gives the caramel its deep molasses flavor and soft, chewy body.
The step that matters
Cook the caramel until it thickens. Sugar and milk need enough heat and time to reduce and thicken into caramel; too little cooking leaves it runny, while overcooking can scorch the sugars and turn it bitter.
“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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