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Dessert

Neapolitan Cake

A layered cake made with light and dark batters, raisins, molasses, spices, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Neapolitan 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.

Make the batters

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

  2. For the light part, cream together 1½ cups sugar and ½ cup butter until fluffy.

  3. Add ½ cup sweet milk, 2½ cups flour, 4 egg whites, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Mix well.

  4. For the dark part, cream together 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter.

  5. Stir in ½ cup molasses, ½ cup sour milk, 4 egg yolks, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.

  6. Add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, and 2½ cups flour. Mix well.

  7. Fold in 1½ pounds raisins if desired.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the light and dark batters into jelly pans, alternating layers.

  2. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

  3. Ice the top and sides of the cake.

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. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 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 + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs
Egg whites add lift and structure, while yolks add richness and tenderness to the batter.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender, rich crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness to the dark batter.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the dark batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the light batter, helping it rise.

The step that matters

Alternating light and dark batters in the pans. Batters of different density and color must be layered gently so they bake into distinct, even bands rather than blending together.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, molasses, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, molasses, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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