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 ↓
Pound 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 eggs until frothy.
Add sugar and butter, and beat well together.
Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to the mixture.
Rub cream of tartar into the flour with your hands.
Combine the flour with the egg mixture and stir thoroughly.
Flavor and bake
Flavor to your taste and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs trap air for lift and help set the cake's structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps create a tender crumb when beaten with butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist texture.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its starch and proteins set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas that makes the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that reacts with baking soda and helps stabilize the beaten eggs.
The step that matters
Combine the flour with the egg mixture and stir thoroughly.. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form, and overmixing makes the cake tough and dense. Stir until just uniform so the batter stays light and tender.
“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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