Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pound 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined.
Add flavoring to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.
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 + 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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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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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 adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it sweetens the cake and helps give it a fine, tender texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set and contribute moisture and richness to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter and helps stabilize its structure and leavening action.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Mixing the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Once flour is added, gluten begins to form, so mixing only until just combined keeps the cake tender rather than tough and dense.
“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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