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 ↓
Cider 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the grated nutmeg and milk.
Mix in 1 cup of cider.
Gradually add 4 cups of flour, mixing until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 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).
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
- Adds fat that creams with sugar to trap air and give a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while creaming aerates the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as its proteins and starches cook.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cider to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the batter.
- Cider
- Adds acidity that activates the baking soda and contributes moisture and flavour.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth. Once flour is in, overmixing develops gluten and makes the cake tough, so mix only until the batter is smooth.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, milk, cider):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, milk, cider. 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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