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Dessert

Boston Cream Cakes

A layered cake with buttered flour batter and custard filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Boston Cream Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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 shells

  1. Combine the butter and hot water in a large saucepan and heat until boiling.

  2. Add the sifted flour all at once and mix well with a vegetable masher until smooth.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  4. Add the beaten egg yolks, then the beaten egg whites, baking soda, and salt.

  5. Drop large spoonfuls onto buttered baking sheets, spacing them about two inches apart.

  6. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 15 minutes until golden.

Make the custard

  1. Heat ⅔ pint of milk in a double boiler.

  2. In a bowl, mix the sugar, flour, and beaten eggs.

  3. When the milk is nearly boiling, pour in the egg mixture and stir briskly for 3 minutes until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat, add the butter, and let cool.

Assemble

  1. Once cooled, carefully open the cakes on the side with a knife or scissors.

  2. Flavor with vanilla or lemon, then fill the cakes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Eggs add structure and richness, and the whites help the shells puff and set.
Flour
Flour gives the shells and custard structure as its starch thickens with heat.
Butter
Butter adds fat and richness, giving the shells and custard a softer, smoother texture.
Baking soda
Baking soda helps the shells rise and brown in the oven.
Sugar
Sugar sweetens the custard and helps the shells brown lightly.
Milk
Milk supplies the liquid and proteins that set with the eggs to form the custard.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg mixture into the milk. Eggs can curdle or scramble if they get too hot too fast. Pouring the mixture into nearly boiling milk while stirring briskly spreads the heat evenly, so the custard thickens smoothly.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg, sugar, milk):

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, egg, sugar, 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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