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 ↓
Corn Starch 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
Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until smooth.
Mix the corn starch with the sweet milk, then add the mixture to the creamed mixture.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold the egg whites into the mixture.
Sift the flour with the baking powder, then gently mix the flour into the mixture.
Pour the batter into a prepared baking pan.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Serve the cake the same day it is baked for the best flavor.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Egg whites
- Beaten until stiff, they trap air and give the cake lift and a light crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and tenderness.
- Corn starch
- Lightens the crumb and keeps the cake tender, since it has little gluten.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stirring too hard or too long deflates the whipped egg whites and loses the air that gives the cake its rise. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, corn, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, corn, milk, flour. 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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