Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Rock Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, beat the butter until creamy.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Incorporate the flour, eggs, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Fold in the currants and flavoring.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered baking tins.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 richness and tenderness, and helps the cakes brown and taste rich.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and add structure and moisture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with baking soda to lift the batter.
- Currants
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout each cake.
The step that matters
Dropping the spoonfuls onto the tins. The mixture is stiff, so spoonfuls should be evenly sized and spaced. Uniform portions bake at the same rate and keep the cakes from spreading into each other or browning unevenly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, 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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