Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Strawberry Jam 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and half of the sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add color paste to the butter mixture to achieve a pink color.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until light.
Combine the yolk mixture with the creamed butter and sugar.
Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk and add it to the mixture along with a little flour.
Fold in the egg whites and the remaining flour, then add the cinnamon.
Finally, gently fold in the strawberry jam.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into layers or a single sheet and bake until golden.
Once cooled, cover with white or green icing and cut into squares.
Top each square with a fresh strawberry if in season.
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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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, with whites lightening the batter when folded in.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
- Strawberry jam
- Adds fruit sweetness and moisture to the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites and remaining flour. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the egg whites inside the batter. Overmixing deflates the foam and deletes the lift, leaving a denser, tougher cake.
Swap the strawberry jam
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cinnamon, egg, butter, buttermilk, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Strawberry jamthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, egg, butter, buttermilk, sugar. 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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