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Dessert

Cocoanut Cake

A coconut cake with layers of coconut cream, currant jelly, and grated coconut topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Cocoanut Cake

Why it works: Coconut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the beaten egg whites, baking soda dissolved in milk, flour, and cream of tartar. Mix well.

  4. Pour the batter into jelly cake tins.

  5. Bake until golden.

Make the custard filling

  1. Combine 1 pint of milk, egg yolks, sugar, and flour in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring until smooth and thickened.

  3. Once cool, stir in grated coconut and vanilla.

Assemble and finish

  1. Spread cream on the first layer of cake.

  2. Spread currant jelly on the second layer.

  3. Top with the third layer.

  4. Cover the top with icing.

  5. Sprinkle with remaining grated 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Coconut + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eggs
Beaten whites give the cake lift and an airy, light structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure and, in the custard, thickens the filling.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, stabilizing the egg whites and helping the cake rise.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help it thicken and set when cooked.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until thickened. Egg yolks and flour thicken as they heat, but if the custard is overcooked or boiled hard the yolks can scramble and turn grainy. Stirring over medium heat keeps it smooth.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Coconutthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Strawberryfits about as well

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