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Dessert

A Good Cheap Layer Cake

A layered cake with apple cream filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

A Good Cheap Layer Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the first batter

  1. Combine 1 egg and yolk of another, 1 cup sugar, butter the size of an egg, 1 cup sweet milk, 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, flavor to taste.

  2. Bake in layers.

Make the apple frosting

  1. Pare and grate 2 medium sized sour apples.

  2. Beat white of egg and 1 small cup granulated sugar together.

  3. Add grated apple and beat until frothy and light.

  4. Flavor with Royce's extract of vanilla.

  5. Put between layers and cover top of cake.

Make the second batter

  1. Combine 2 cups sugar, 1 cup butter, 1 cup sweet milk, 4 cups sifted flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, whites of 8 eggs.

  2. Bake either in solid or layer cake.

  3. Flavor with Royce's vanilla.

  4. If in layers, slice candied pineapple fine and mix in the frosting for between the layers.

Make the third batter

  1. Combine 2 cups pulverized sugar creamed with 1 cup butter, 1 cup sweet milk, 3 scant cups flour measured after sifting, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon Royce's almond flavor, and lastly the whites of 6 eggs well beaten.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

928Calories
28 gProtein
26 gFat
145 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together738 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Milk + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Whites beaten to foam add lift and an airy, light crumb.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once set by heat.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps brown its surface.
Sour apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweet frosting.

The step that matters

Beat the apple frosting until frothy and light. Whipping the egg white and sugar into a stable foam gives the frosting its lightness. Underbeaten whites collapse and leave it runny and dense, while the grated apple must be folded in gently so the foam is not deflated.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, butter, flour, egg, tea):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, butter, flour, egg, tea. 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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