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Dessert

Apple Short Cake

A short cake made with flour, butter, sweet milk, and topped with apple sauce and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Apple Short Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt.

  3. Cut the butter into the flour until crumbly.

  4. Mix in the sweet milk to form a soft dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough into two parts and roll out one half.

  2. Place the rolled dough in a pan and brush the surface with melted butter.

  3. Roll out the second half of the dough and place it on top.

  4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Serve

  1. Divide the cake, butter it, and spread with apple sauce.

  2. Serve with cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Milk + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the dough once bound with liquid.
Magic baking powder
Releases gas that makes the shortcake rise and turn light.
Butter
Cut into the flour to make the dough tender and crumbly, adding richness.
Sweet milk
Hydrates the flour to bring the dough together and adds moisture.

The step that matters

Cutting the butter into the flour until crumbly. Butter left as small, cold pieces melts during baking and creates steam and layers, while over-mixing develops gluten and makes the shortcake tough.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, coffee, milk, sauce, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, coffee, milk, sauce, 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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