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 ↓
German Apple Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Pare and core the apples, then cut them into eighths and set aside.
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and half of the sugar into a bowl.
Rub in the butter until well combined.
Make the batter
Beat the egg slightly, add it to the milk, and stir into the flour mixture.
Beat briskly until smooth.
Pour the batter into a greased pan.
Bake and serve
Press the apple slices into the batter in rows, sharp edge down.
Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top.
Bake for about 30 minutes until golden.
Serve hot, cut into squares, as a luncheon or tea 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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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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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).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Pastry flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Tart apples
- Add moisture and a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the cake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
The step that matters
Rub in the butter until well combined. Working cold butter into the flour until evenly distributed creates a fine, tender crumb; uneven pieces can leave greasy or dense patches in the finished cake.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk. 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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