Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Tea 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.
Make the batter
Cream the Cottolene and gradually beat in the sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is light and smooth.
Alternately add the milk and flour sifted with baking powder.
If desired, fold in the floured blueberries or currants.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Serve as cake or with a hard sauce as a pudding.
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 + 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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Cottolene
- Provides fat that carries texture and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Creamed with the fat to add sweetness and help build a light texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and their beaten air supports the cake's lightness.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
The step that matters
Alternately add the milk and flour sifted with baking powder. Adding flour and liquid in alternating portions keeps the batter smooth and well combined, so gluten develops evenly without overmixing. Adding everything at once can leave lumps or a dense, tough crumb.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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