Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cocoanut Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cake
Beat three eggs, reserving the whites of two for frosting, and mix in two‑thirds cup sugar, two‑thirds cup sweet milk, one and two‑thirds cups flour, one teaspoon cream of tartar, and half a tea‑spoon soda.
Bake in thin round tins.
Frost and serve
Make a frosting of the whites of the two eggs, well beaten, with four dessert‑spoonfuls white sugar.
Spread the frosting on the top of the cakes and sprinkle grated coconut with the frosting.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + teatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together738 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Provide structure in the cake, and their whites, beaten to a foam, make the frosting light.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and frosting and helps keep the crumb tender.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture to the batter and helps it bake through softly.
- Cream of tartar
- Reacts with the soda to lift the batter and stabilizes the beaten egg whites.
- Soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas that makes the cake rise.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites for the frosting. Whites must be beaten until they form a stiff, stable foam. Underbeaten whites stay runny and cannot hold the sugar, so the frosting slides off the cake instead of staying on top.
“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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