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Dessert

Hickorynut Cake

A cake made with hickorynut kernels, flour, butter, sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Hickorynut Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

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

  2. Chop hickorynut kernels to make 1 cup.

Make the batter

  1. Mix butter and sugar with a little water, then gradually add more water and flour until fully combined.

  2. Beat the mixture thoroughly for 3 minutes.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in half into the mixture.

  4. Add the chopped nuts and then fold in the remaining egg whites.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour into square or round pans and bake for 45 minutes.

  2. Ice with soft icing and decorate with nut halves.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Whipped whites trap air, giving the cake lift and a light, open crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become tender.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture, and helps carry flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and hold moisture.
Hickorynut kernels
Add nutty flavor and a rich, slightly chewy texture to the crumb.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Overmixing or deflating them while folding makes the cake dense and heavy.

“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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