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Dessert

Queen Charlotte's Cake

A sweet cake made with butter, flour, eggs, candied peel, almonds, and cinnamon, finished with a sugar‑water syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Queen Charlotte's Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sponge

  1. Set a sponge with 1 pint sifted flour, 1 teacup warm milk, and 1 cake of yeast, or 2 tablespoons liquid yeast with half a teaspoon salt.

  2. Let it rise in a warm place till very light.

Make the batter

  1. Add 1 pound butter and 1 pound powdered sugar, beaten to a cream.

  2. Add 4 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 pound candied peel cut fine, 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon, and a small cup of blanched and chopped almonds.

  3. Let stand 1 hour.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake 1 hour in a moderate oven.

  2. Prick holes with a sharp knife.

  3. Pour in a syrup made of one cup sugar and a large tablespoon water boiled together five minutes.

  4. Cover the top of the cake with harlequin comfits, or dust it thick with powdered sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

737Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
122 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Waternot in our table0
Cakenot 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 Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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 + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Yeast
Produces gas as it works in the sponge, lightening the batter before baking.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter bind and set.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown while baking.
Almonds (in the method)
Add crunch and a nutty flavor to the crumb.

The step that matters

Let the sponge rise until very light. Yeast gas expands the sponge and creates the airy structure the cake depends on. If it is underproofed, the finished cake will be dense and heavy.

“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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