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Dessert

Lady Cake

A cake made with honey, sugar, flour, butter, eggs, spices, and almond extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lady Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine half a cup butter, one cup granulated sugar, half a cup milk, two cups flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, whites of four eggs, and a teaspoonful almond extract.

  2. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream.

  3. Stir the milk into one cup of the flour and add to the butter and sugar.

  4. Add the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth.

  5. Sift the baking powder and remaining cup of flour together.

  6. Add to the other ingredients with the teaspoonful of almond extract.

  7. If baked in a loaf it will require three-quarters of an hour or more.

Make the honey mixture

  1. Combine two pounds strained honey, three-quarters pound light brown sugar, three-quarters ounce bicarbonate of potash dissolved in a little water, one cup cream, half cup melted butter, ginger, cloves and pepper to taste, and stir all well together.

  2. Add to it as much flour as will make it like a thick mush.

  3. Set it away until the next day.

Bake

  1. Then turn it into a well-greased cake mould and bake about three-quarters of an hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

970Calories
29 gProtein
32 gFat
142 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

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

By Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Honey + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Strained honey
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep browning to the cake.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its starch and proteins set during baking.
Eggs
Beaten whites trap air, helping the cake rise and giving it a light texture.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas when heated, raising the batter.
Bicarbonate of potash
Acts as a leavening agent that helps the batter rise and brown.

The step that matters

Add flour until the mixture is a thick mush. Flour sets the cake's structure, so too little leaves a runny batter that cannot hold its rise, while too much makes the cake stiff and dense.

“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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