Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Cream Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cake
Combine 1 cup sugar, butter the size of an egg, and 2 eggs in a bowl.
Add 1 heaping cup flour, 1 teaspoon cream tartar, 1 teaspoon soda, and 1 cup milk; mix until smooth.
Bake the batter in two layers.
Make the filling
For the filling, beat 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and 1 egg together.
Heat the mixture over steam or water until scalding hot.
Stir in the remaining ingredients, flavor with vanilla or lemon, and spread between the baked layers when the cake is cold.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| 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.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps keep the crumb tender.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake and filling together.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, and thicken the filling as it heats.
- Cream tartar
- Adds acidity that reacts with soda to help the cake rise.
- Milk (in the method)
- Supplies moisture for the batter and the filling.
The step that matters
Heat the filling until scalding, then let the cake cool before spreading. As the egg and flour mixture heats, it thickens the milk into a custard. Spreading it onto warm layers would soften it and make it run, so the cake must be cold first.
“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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