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Dessert

Ice Cream Cake

A layered cake with a sweet filling of sugar, water, egg whites, and citric acid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Extract salt from butter.

  2. Cream butter and sugar together.

  3. Add one cup milk.

  4. Add two cups flour.

  5. Add one cup corn starch.

  6. Add one teaspoon baking powder.

  7. Add the whites of eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth. This mixture makes five layers.

Make the syrup

  1. Take four cups sugar and one cup water, cook until it drops thick.

  2. Cool a little.

Finish

  1. Add the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth.

  2. Add one teaspoon citric acid.

  3. Flavor with vanilla.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

684Calories
19 gProtein
18 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps make the crumb tender.
Flour (in the method)
Provides the structure that holds the cake together.
Eggs
Whipped whites trap air, giving the cake lightness and lift.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Corn starch (in the method)
Softens the crumb by diluting the flour's gluten, giving a finer texture.

The step that matters

Add the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Stiff egg whites trap air that gives the cake its lift. If the whites are under-beaten or deflated when added, the layers will be denser and rise less.

“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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