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Dessert

Strawberry Jam Cake

A cake made with sugar, butter, eggs, strawberry jam, sour milk, soda, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Strawberry Jam Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter and sugar.

  2. Add beaten yolks and continue beating.

  3. Add strawberry jam.

  4. Add a little flour to bind mixture, then add sour milk and soda dissolved in the milk, and remaining flour, beating well.

  5. Add spices (cinnamon and nutmeg).

  6. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a square shallow pan for about thirty-five minutes.

  2. Cover with boiled icing.

  3. If in strawberry season, mark icing in squares before it is cold and place a ripe strawberry in each square.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

743Calories
27 gProtein
15 gFat
121 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12

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

By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [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. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
Yolks enrich the batter and whites, folded in stiffly beaten, lighten the crumb.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the soda to help the cake rise and keeps it tender.
Soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, leavening the cake.
Cake flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Strawberry jam (in the method)
Adds moisture, fruit flavor and sweetness to the batter.

The step that matters

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Over-mixing deflates the whites and loses the air that lightens the cake, so fold gently until just combined.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Jalapenofits less well
  4. Turmericfits less well

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