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Dessert

Peach Layer Cake

A layered cake made with flour, butter, baking powder, sugar, milk, eggs, and sliced peaches, topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kaufman, Nettie M · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Peach Layer Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Add 2 eggs and 3 cups flour.

  2. Add 1 cup butter and 2 teaspoons baking powder.

  3. Add 2 cups sugar, grated nutmeg, and 1 cup milk.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake the above in a rather quick oven, making three layers.

  2. Put sweetened, sliced peaches between and on top.

  3. When ready to serve, cover top layer with whipped cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
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 Kaufman, Nettie M. 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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the layers together as they bake.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the layers set as they bake.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb tender.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the layers rise.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and keeps the batter loose.

The step that matters

Bake in a rather quick oven. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it is wet and heated, so the batter should go into a hot oven promptly. The heat then sets the structure of each layer before it can sink or spread.

“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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