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 ↓
Rock 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Sift the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder into a bowl.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add the milk gradually to form a medium stiff drop batter.
Stir in the currants, candied orange peel, nutmeg, and mix well.
Bake
Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking pan.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
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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Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,746 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to make the cakes tender and rich.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the cakes rise and stay light.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a stiff batter that holds its drop shape.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.
- Currants
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the cakes.
The step that matters
Rubbing in the butter. Working the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs coats the flour particles with fat, limiting gluten development so the cakes stay tender rather than tough.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, nutmeg, flour, sugar, butter, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against orange, nutmeg, flour, sugar, butter, 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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