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Dessert

Carrie Glass

A layered graham cracker cake with a cocoa and cream filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Carrie Glass

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cake

  1. Combine one cup of sugar with one-half cup of lard and two eggs; roll finely fifteen graham crackers.

  2. Add to this mixture one cup of milk, one cup of sifted flour, two teaspoons of baking powder, and one-half cup of chopped walnuts.

  3. Bake in two layers.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, combine three tablespoons of cocoa, three tablespoons of cream, three tablespoons of butter, one cup confectionery sugar, and one teaspoon vanilla.

  2. If the filling is thin, add more sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1258Calories
31 gProtein
57 gFat
150 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cracker5 saltine crackers (15g)66
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cakenot 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 Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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
Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and become lighter.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake layers together.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and keeps the cake moist.
Confectionery sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken into a spreadable texture.

The step that matters

Adding more sugar to a thin filling. Confectionery sugar stiffens the filling as it dissolves and absorbs liquid, so adding it gradually until the filling thickens avoids an overly sweet or runny result.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Nutsfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, flour, cocoa, butter, vanilla, cream. 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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