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 ↓
Caramel Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the egg yolks and beat for five minutes.
Mix in the milk, flour, and baking powder sifted three times.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them in, adding a spoonful at a time.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Make the caramel and finish
For the caramel, boil the brown sugar, milk, and butter until waxy, then beat until cool.
Spread the caramel between layers and on top of the cake.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it sets.
- Eggs
- Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks trap air that lightens the batter, and yolks add richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise.
- Brown sugar
- Forms the caramel, adding deep sweetness and a toffee flavour.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the batter and helps form the caramel.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiffly beaten whites hold the air that lifts the batter. Folding gently, a spoonful at a time, keeps that air in, so the cake rises evenly and stays light rather than dense.
“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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