Name: Shrewsbury Cakes
Ingredients: ¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened; 1 pound brown sugar; 1 large egg, beaten; flour, as needed

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 ↓

Shrewsbury Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 pound brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
flour, as needed

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together until smooth.
Add the beaten egg and mix well.
Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff.

Shape and bake

Roll out the dough and cut into shapes using a tin mold.
Place the cakes on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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: Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cakes a tender, rich texture.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture and molasses flavor, and helps the cakes brown.
Egg: Binds the dough together and adds structure and richness.
Flour: Provides the structure that sets the dough so the cakes hold their shape.

The step that matters

Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff. Flour forms gluten when worked, so adding too much or mixing too hard makes the cakes dry and tough. Stop once the dough is stiff enough to roll and cut.

“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.

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Spice Cake344 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Shrewsbury Cakes