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 ↓
Burnt Sugar 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. 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the butter and granulated sugar.
Add the milk, water, and eggs, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and vanilla.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Make the burnt sugar syrup
To make the burnt sugar syrup, heat 1 cup of granulated sugar in a skillet until it smokes.
Carefully add ½ cup boiling water to the skillet and cook until a thin syrup forms.
Bake and finish
Stir the burnt sugar syrup into the cake batter.
Pour the batter into two greased cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool and frost with caramel frosting.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 and add richness and tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as the cake sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Burnt sugar syrup
- Adds deep caramel flavour and colour to the cake.
The step that matters
Cooking the sugar until it smokes. Sugar that is burned too lightly gives weak flavour, while sugar burned too far turns bitter. Heating it past amber and then adding water carefully prevents splattering and gives a controlled, rich caramel syrup.
“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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