Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Scotch Cake
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.
Make the dough
Rub the butter with your hands.
Sift the flour, sugar, and baking soda into the bowl with the butter, mixing with your hands to form a dough.
Bake and cut
Prepare a baking pan with buttered parchment paper and place the dough ball on it, pressing to your desired thickness.
Prick the top with a fork and bake for about 20 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
While still hot, cut into squares directly in the pan.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Provides fat that makes the cake rich and tender while keeping it short.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough as it bakes and sets.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift and lighten the dough, and aids browning.
The step that matters
Cut while still hot. Cutting the cake while it is still warm keeps the squares clean, because the butter-rich dough firms as it cools and can crumble or break when cut cold.
“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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