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Dessert

Nougat Cake

A layered cake with fruit and a marshmallow‑sugar icing, baked in three layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Nougat Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Make a white cake batter by mixing 8 egg whites, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup butter, 1 cup milk, 3 cups flour, and 2 teaspoons baking powder.

Make the layers

  1. Spread a layer of batter on the bottom of a pan.

  2. Place chopped figs, chopped raisins, and citron closely together on the batter.

  3. Cover with a thin layer of batter.

  4. Bake until golden.

  5. Repeat the layering and baking steps to make three layers.

Ice and assemble

  1. Combine 3 cups sugar, 3 egg whites, and 12 marshmallows until smooth to make the icing.

  2. Add 1 cup chopped raisins, chopped crystallized cherries, chopped crystallized pineapple, and chopped English walnuts to the icing.

  3. Layer the icing between the three cake layers.

  4. Flavor the assembled cake with a little almond extract.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Fig + pineappletop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together100 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

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

  4. Fig + raisintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  5. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Provide structure and lift to the cake batter as they set during baking.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the layers rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the icing become smooth and glossy.
Marshmallows
Melt with the egg whites and sugar to give the icing a soft, chewy body.

The step that matters

Combine the icing until smooth. Egg whites and sugar must be beaten or heated together until fully dissolved and smooth; undissolved sugar leaves a grainy icing and the marshmallows may not melt evenly into the foam.

Swap the pineapple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, fig, raisin. 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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