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 ↓
Lemon Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter in a bowl, then gradually add the sugar, lemon rind, and lemon juice.
Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture, beating for five minutes.
Stir in the milk.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, then add to the batter and beat hard for half a minute.
Bake
Pour the batter into a buttered pan, ensuring it is about 3 inches thick.
Bake for 45 minutes.
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 + 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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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set and help bind the batter together.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps hold air in the creamed butter for a soft crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the batter so the cake bakes softly.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs and creaming the butter. Thorough creaming and beating of eggs trap air in the batter, which expands in the oven and gives a light, even crumb. Under-beating leaves a dense cake.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar, milk, 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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