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Dessert

French Cream Cake

A custard cake made by baking flour, eggs, and milk, then spreading a sweet custard between layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

French Cream Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cake

  1. Whisk together three eggs, one teacup granulated sugar, one and a half cups flour, two tablespoons cold water, and one teaspoon baking powder.

  2. Bake the batter in pie pans or jelly pans.

Make the custard

  1. Boil nearly one pint sweet milk.

  2. Mix two tablespoons corn starch with a little sweet milk.

  3. Add two well beaten eggs to the mixture.

  4. Stir in slowly when the milk has boiled.

  5. Let the mixture boil.

  6. Add nearly a teacup sugar.

  7. Add one-half cup butter stirred until dissolved.

  8. Add one teaspoon vanilla.

Assemble and serve

  1. Spread the hot custard between the cakes.

  2. Use remaining custard as pudding topping.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

845Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
121 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 9 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

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
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Waternot in our table0
Cakenot in our table0
Pienot 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 Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

Vanilla and sugar 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 thicken the custard as they set with heat.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake crumb together.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the custard.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and stay light.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and body.

The step that matters

Stir in slowly when the milk has boiled.. Adding the egg and starch mixture slowly to hot milk, while stirring, keeps the eggs from scrambling and lets the starch thicken the custard evenly without lumps.

“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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