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 ↓
Jelly 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.
Make the batter
Separate the egg whites and yolks. Beat the egg whites until very stiff.
In a separate bowl, beat the yolks until light, then cream the butter and add the yolks.
Add the sugar and beaten egg whites to the mixture, then fold in the flour and baking powder.
Finally, add the milk and mix until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into deep-sided jelly pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Flour + milktop 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
- Whipped whites give the batter lift and airy structure, while the yolks add richness and set the crumb.
- Butter
- Creaming with butter adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Sugar
- Sugar sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust as it bakes.
- Flour
- Flour forms the cake's main structure once it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Baking powder releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Milk
- Milk adds moisture and loosens the batter so it bakes evenly.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until very stiff. Stiff whites trap air that expands in the oven and lifts the batter. Under-beaten whites give a dense cake, while over-beaten whites turn grainy and collapse, so fold them in gently.
“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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