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 ↓
Peach Cream 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg whites and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, mixing until smooth.
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Make the filling
While the cake is baking, prepare the filling by cutting the peaches finely.
Whip the cream and sweeten to taste, then mix in the peaches.
Assemble and frost
Once the cakes are cool, spread the peach and cream mixture between the layers.
Frost the top of the cake as desired.
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 + 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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Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air that gives the cake a light, tender crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once the batter sets in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy creamed base.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lift to the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Peaches
- Add fruit moisture and sweet flavor to the filling.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, mixing until smooth.. Adding dry and liquid ingredients in alternating portions, rather than all at once, helps the batter emulsify smoothly and keeps it from becoming dense or overmixed, which protects a tender crumb.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, milk, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, milk, egg, cream. 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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