Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Corn Cream 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
Combine the milk or buttermilk with the sour thick cream.
Add baking soda to sweeten the cream.
Stir in cornmeal until the mixture thickens to the consistency of pound cake.
Bake
Pour the mixture into floured pans, about 1 inch thick.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°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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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk or buttermilk
- Provides the liquid base that the other ingredients are combined into.
- Sour thick cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving the cake a tender, moist crumb.
- Baking soda
- Sweetens the cream as directed and reacts with the acidic dairy to aid rising and browning.
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the mixture to pound cake consistency and gives the cake its structure and texture.
The step that matters
Stir in cornmeal until the mixture thickens to the consistency of pound cake. Cornmeal absorbs liquid and swells as it hydrates, so the batter thickens gradually. Stopping at the right consistency keeps the cake from being too stiff or too loose to set properly in the oven.
“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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