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Dessert

Ooooanut Oakb

A layered cake made with flour, butter, milk, eggs, powdered sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, and coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ladies' Benevolent Society, First Congregational Church (Fall River, Mass .). Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mass.) First Congregational Church (Fall River · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Ooooanut Oakb

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine two cups powdered sugar, one half cup butter, three eggs, one cup milk, three cups flour, two teaspoons cream of tartar, and one teaspoon baking soda.

  2. Bake the batter in layers.

Make the filling and topping

  1. Grate one coconut for the filling; to one half of the grated coconut add the whites of three eggs beaten to a froth and one cup powdered sugar; place this mixture between the layers.

  2. Use the other half of the grated coconut with four tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, and strew thickly on the top of the cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

884Calories
28 gProtein
31 gFat
121 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

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

By Ladies' Benevolent Society, First Congregational Church (Fall River, Mass .). Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mass.) First Congregational Church (Fall River. 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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Whites beaten to a froth trap air, giving the filling and cake a lighter texture.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the batter.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, helping to stabilize the whipped egg whites and support rising.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the cake and filling and helps give a fine, tender crumb.
Grated coconut
Adds moisture, chewy texture and sweet flavor to the filling and topping.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites into the coconut filling. Egg whites beaten to a froth hold air only while they are unbroken; overmixing or letting them stand deflates them, leaving a dense filling instead of a light one.

“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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