Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Short Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, cream the sugar and butter together.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar together.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk, until smooth.
Shape and cook
Roll the dough as soft as possible and cut into small thick cakes.
Bake on a griddle until golden brown.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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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).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cakes together as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cakes and helps them brown on the griddle.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the flour mixture forms a soft, workable dough.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the cakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and helps give a tender texture.
The step that matters
Roll the dough as soft as possible. A soft dough keeps the cakes tender, since extra flour or overworking develops gluten and makes them tough. Cut them thick so they rise and cook through without drying out.
“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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