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A Great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson

A quick cream cake made with flour, cream, and lightly beaten eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

A Great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat three eggs lightly, stir into a pint of cream, then mix in one pint of flour, beating until perfectly smooth.

Bake

  1. Grease your shapes, pour in the batter, and bake very quickly.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

584Calories
20 gProtein
12 gFat
96 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51

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

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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 + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  3. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 main structure that holds the cake once the batter sets.
Eggs
Add structure and help the batter set and rise as it bakes.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the crumb tender.

The step that matters

Bake very quickly. Eggs and flour set in the heat. A fast bake sets the batter before it can sink or dry out, so the cake stays light and moist.

“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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