Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Seed 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Make the batter
Add the milk, half of the stiffly beaten egg whites, and half of the flour mixed with the baking powder.
Mix well, then add the remaining egg whites, flour, and caraway seeds.
Beat the mixture well until fully combined.
Pour the batter into two small loaf pans or one large pan.
Bake and finish
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Ice the cake while it is still warm.
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 + carawaytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb and flavor.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to add air and structure, helping the cake rise and stay light.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Magic baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Granulated sugar
- Creams with butter for aeration and adds sweetness and tender browning.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, tender batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only if they are stiffly beaten and added gently. Overmixing after they go in deflates the foam, so the cake rises less and turns denser.
Swap the caraway
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Carawaythe original
- Jalapenofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg. 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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