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 ↓
Batter-Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a bowl.
Cover and let the mixture rise overnight.
In the morning, add melted butter and beaten eggs to the mixture.
If the batter is sour, dissolve a little baking soda and stir it in.
Beat the ingredients into the batter rather than stirring to incorporate air.
Bake
Knead the dough well and for a sufficient time to ensure fine pores.
Handle the dough quickly and place it in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) immediately.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the cakes rise and become light.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidity in the batter to add lift and correct sourness.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness and help bind the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
The step that matters
Handle the dough quickly and bake immediately. Once leavening agents are mixed in and the batter is wet, gas is released and starts to escape. Delaying the move to a preheated oven lets the rise fade, so the cakes bake up flatter and denser.
“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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