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Dessert

Metropolitan Cake

A two-layer cake with a white layer and a fruit layer containing raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Metropolitan Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the white layer

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  3. Cream ¾ cup butter and 2 cups powdered sugar together.

  4. Add the egg whites, 1 cup milk, 1 cup corn starch, 2 cups flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder; mix well.

  5. Pour the mixture into two greased cake pans and bake until golden.

Make the fruit layer

  1. Cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups brown sugar together for the fruit layer.

  2. Add 4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 3½ cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; mix well.

  3. Fold in the chopped raisins.

  4. Pour the fruit mixture into the same pans and bake until done.

Assemble

  1. Once cooled, layer the white and fruit cakes with icing in between.

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.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Corn + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together647 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites are beaten to add lightness and structure to the white layer, while whole eggs bind the fruit layer.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cakes a tender, rich crumb.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cakes bake.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cakes rise and stay light.
Brown sugar
Adds moisture and a caramel-like sweetness to the fruit layer.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the fruit layer.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Stiff whites hold air bubbles that lift the white layer. Under-beaten whites collapse, and over-mixing the batter afterward deflates them, leaving a dense cake.

“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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