Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Jam 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the flour, baking powder, and cold water, mixing until smooth.
Fold in the jam of your choice.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Flour + gooseberrytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + gooseberrytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together70 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Jam
- Adds fruit sweetness, acidity, and moisture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Ovens vary, and the cake keeps setting as it cools. Checking at the stated time with a toothpick shows whether the centre is fully set, so the cake is neither gummy nor dry.
Swap the gooseberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Gooseberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour. 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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