Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Cheap 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 bowl, mix the sugar, cocoa, and salt, then sift with the flour.
In another bowl, mix the baking soda with the melted butter and sour milk.
Combine the flour mixture with the milk mixture.
Beat in the egg last until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + cocoatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together643 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter 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 structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk's acid to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay moist.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a richer flavour.
The step that matters
Combine the milk and baking soda, then mix in the flour without overbeating. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the acidic sour milk, so the batter should go into the oven promptly. Overmixing after the flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the cocoa
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, milk, egg, butter):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Milletfits better
- Cocoathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, milk, egg, butter. 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.
More chocolate cake recipes
You might also like
Coconut Pudding26 recipes
Coconut Cake17 recipes
Cocoa Nut Candy11 recipes
Cocoa Nut Pudding9 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.