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Dessert

Layer Cake with Fresh Cocoanut

A layered cake with a coconut filling and icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Layer Cake with Fresh Cocoanut

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the cake batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk and vanilla.

  6. Pour the batter into greased cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, heat ½ cup milk and ½ cup cream in a double boiler with a small walnut of butter.

  2. In a bowl, stir 1 tablespoon flour into ½ cup sugar.

  3. Add the flour mixture to the hot milk and cook until thick.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg white, mixing well.

  5. Cool slightly and add fresh grated coconut to taste.

Assemble and finish

  1. Spread the filling between the layers of cake.

  2. Make a boiled icing to cover the top and sides of the cake.

  3. Sprinkle thickly with additional coconut.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas when heated, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Milk
Adds moisture to the batter and, in the filling, thickens with flour into a custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a fine, airy texture.

The step that matters

Cook the filling until thick. Flour must be fully cooked in the hot milk so its starch swells and thickens the custard; undercooked starch leaves a raw, pasty taste and a runny filling.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Hazelnutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, vanilla, cream. 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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