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Dessert

Indian Cake

A sweet cake made with sugar, butter, flour, eggs, milk, spices, and Indian meal, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Indian Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the butter and sugar until very light.

  2. Add the brandy and spices.

  3. Mix in the flour and milk alternately.

  4. Whisk the eggs until very thick.

  5. Gradually add the eggs to the mixture. Mix well.

  6. Add the Indian meal in two parts, beating well after each addition.

Bake

  1. Butter and line a pan with white paper.

  2. Pour in the mixture and smooth the top with a knife.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2.5 to 3 hours, depending on the oven heat.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whisked eggs add air and structure, helping the cake rise and hold its crumb.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
Sugar
Creamed with butter, it helps create a light texture and adds sweetness.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Indian meal
Adds body and a coarser, slightly grainy texture to the crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and works with the flour to form the batter's structure.

The step that matters

Whisking the eggs until very thick. Eggs whisked to a thick foam hold air that leavens the batter. If they are under-whisked or deflated when folded in, the cake will be denser and rise less.

“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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