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Dessert

Railroad Cake

A simple cake made with eggs, sugar, sweet milk, butter, and cream of tartar and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Railroad 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.

Prepare

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

Make the batter

  1. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until well combined.

  2. Add the sweet milk and melted butter, mixing thoroughly.

  3. Sift in the cream of tartar and baking soda, then mix until smooth.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

  2. Let cool before serving.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set, with moisture and richness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps browning, and tenderizes the crumb.
Sweet milk
Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and gives the batter its moisture.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the cake tender and rich in flavor.
Cream of tartar
Supplies acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
Baking soda
Releases carbon dioxide when combined with the acid, leavening the batter.

The step that matters

Get the batter into the pan and oven promptly after mixing in the leavening. Baking soda and cream of tartar begin reacting as soon as they meet liquid, releasing gas. Delaying the bake lets that gas escape, so the cake may rise less and come out denser.

“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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