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Dessert

Harlequin Cake

A four‑layer cake with colored and flavored layers, topped with lemon jelly and white frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Harlequin Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter and sugar.

  2. Beat in the yolks of three eggs.

  3. Stir in the cup of milk.

  4. Sift in the three cups of flour.

  5. Add one measure of Horsford's bread preparation.

  6. Stir in one teaspoonful of cream tartar.

  7. Add one-half teaspoon of soda.

  8. Beat in the whites of three eggs and mix all together.

  9. Divide the dough into four equal parts.

Color and bake

  1. Color two parts the color of the dough, flavor one with orange extract, the other with vanilla.

  2. Color the third part with two squares of melted chocolate.

  3. Color the fourth part with pink coloring and flavor with strawberry.

  4. Bake each part.

Layer and frost

  1. When done, lay a light layer, then a chocolate layer, then a light layer, then a pink layer.

  2. Between the layers spread lemon jelly.

  3. Frost with white frosting.

Make the lemon filling

  1. Beat one egg.

  2. Add one cup of water, grated rind and juice of one lemon.

  3. Pour this slowly over one cup of sugar mixed with two tablespoons of flour.

  4. Cook until quite smooth.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1051Calories
30 gProtein
40 gFat
141 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the crumb through fat.
Eggs
Provide structure when set and add richness and moisture to the batter.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake and thickens the lemon filling when cooked.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the batter.

The step that matters

Cook until quite smooth. Flour only thickens and loses its raw taste when heated fully in liquid. Pouring slowly and cooking until smooth prevents lumps and an uncooked starchy flavor.

“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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