Name: Kate's Sugar Gingerbread
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 1 cup sugar; 4 cups flour; 1 cup milk; 4 eggs; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1 teaspoon baking soda

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 ↓

Kate's Sugar Gingerbread

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 oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the baking soda with the flour.
In another bowl, combine the sugar and cream of tartar.

Make the batter

Cream the butter and sugar mixture together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Gradually add the flour mixture and milk, alternating between the two, until well combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Flour: Provides the main structure as its proteins form gluten when mixed with liquid.
Eggs: Add structure and binding as their proteins set during baking.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender crumb and richness in the batter.
Sugar: Adds sweetness, helps browning, and holds moisture in the crumb.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas that makes the cake rise.
Cream of tartar: Adds acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.