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 ↓
Blackberry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the flour, blackberry jam, beaten eggs, sour cream, baking soda, and nutmeg or cinnamon. Mix well.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake slowly until set and golden brown.
Serve with sauce.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Blackberry + nutmegtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together203 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and carries flavor through the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together once baked.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream and jam to lift and lighten the batter.
- Blackberry jam
- Supplies sweetness, fruity flavor, and moisture to the batter.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and a tangy acidity that tenderizes the crumb.
The step that matters
Bake slowly until set and golden brown. Low, slow heat lets the eggs set gently without curdling or drying out, while the sugars and proteins brown gradually. Pulling it too early leaves a wet, loose centre; baking too hot can scorch the outside before the middle sets.
Swap the blackberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream, nutmeg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Blackberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream, nutmeg. 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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