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 ↓
Cream Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the choux dough
In a saucepan, bring 1 pint of water to a boil.
Melt in the butter and add the salt.
Stir in the flour while still boiling and cook for 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Break in the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth.
Bake and serve
Butter muffin pans or large baking sheets.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pans, allowing room to spread.
Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Cool on a wire rack before filling with cream.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Starch that thickens the boiling water and gives the dough structure to hold its shape.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set and help the puffs rise and stay hollow.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and softens the dough's texture.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour while still boiling and cook for 3 minutes. Cooking the flour paste drives off moisture and gelatinizes the starch, so the dough can hold steam and puff rather than stay flat and gummy.
“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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