Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Cream Cake Simple
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cakes
Combine 3 eggs, 1½ cups flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
Add 2 tablespoons water; bake into 2 cakes and split while warm.
Make the cream and assemble
For the cream, combine 1 egg, 1 pint milk, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons corn starch, butter the size of an egg, and 1½ teaspoons Royce's vanilla; let cool and put between cakes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and vanilla 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure, richness, and moisture, and help the batter rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the cake a tender crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, which lifts the batter and makes the cakes rise.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the cream so it holds its shape between the cake layers.
The step that matters
Let the cream cool before assembling. Corn starch thickens as it is heated and sets as it cools. Spreading or placing the cream while it is still warm can leave it too loose, so the layers may slide or soak into the cake.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, corn, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillathe original
- Blueberryfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, corn, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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