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Dessert

Fried Cakes

A sweet fried cake made from a batter of milk, flour, sugar, lard, and leavening, then fried and dusted with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Young Men's Christian Association (Montpelier, Vt.). Women of the Auxiliary · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Fried Cakes

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 ↓

Fried Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Scald half a pint of milk.

  2. Add four tablespoonfuls of cold water.

  3. Add one teaspoonful of salt.

  4. Add half a cup of yeast.

  5. Add flour enough to make a thin batter.

  6. Let it rise overnight.

  7. Add two well beaten eggs.

  8. Add one cup of sugar.

  9. Add one teaspoonful of soda.

  10. Add flour enough to roll out.

  11. Put in a greased dish.

  12. When light, turn out.

Shape and fry

  1. Add flour enough to make a stiff dough.

  2. Stir the baking powder into the flour.

  3. Stir all together.

  4. Roll a little less than an inch in thickness.

  5. Cut the dough.

  6. Cut into circles, without moulding.

  7. Let them rise on a board until very light, two or three hours.

  8. Fry in hot lard.

  9. Fry.

  10. Roll in powdered sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

999Calories
28 gProtein
44 gFat
121 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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 Young Men's Christian Association (Montpelier, Vt.). Women of the Auxiliary. 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  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

Yeast
Ferments the dough so it rises and becomes light.
Eggs
Add richness and structure to the dough.
Flour
Forms the structure of the dough that holds its shape.
Baking powder
Releases gas to lift the dough as it rises.

The step that matters

Let them rise on a board until very light. The shaped rounds need enough proofing to become airy before frying. Underproofed dough absorbs more oil and fries up dense and greasy.

“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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