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Dessert

Tutti Frutti Cake

A layered white cake topped with a fruit and nut custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Tutti Frutti Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Bake the cake

  1. Bake a white cake in three layers.

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, combine thin cream, egg yolks, cornstarch mixed with a little milk, salt, and sugar.

  2. Cook over low heat until thickened, then let it cool.

  3. Once cool, stir in vanilla, nut meats, and mixed crystallized fruit.

Assemble

  1. Spread the mixture between the cake layers.

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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the cream filling as they set during gentle cooking.
Cornstarch
Thickens the cream into a spreadable filling as it heats.
Thin cream
Provides moisture and richness to the filling.
Mixed crystallized fruit
Adds chewy pieces and bright flavor throughout the filling.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, and cornstarch needs to come to a simmer to reach full thickness. Gentle, steady heat gives a smooth, thick filling.

“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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