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Dessert

Whipped Cream Cake

A light cake layered with whipped cream, served with sliced oranges or bananas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Whipped Cream Cake

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 ↓

Whipped Cream 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg and mix in the sugar, flour, sweet milk, baking soda, cream of tartar, and melted butter until smooth.

  3. Divide the batter into two greased cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the cream and assemble

  1. While the cake is baking, whip the thick sweet cream until it forms stiff peaks.

  2. Sweeten and flavor the whipped cream with vanilla or lemon.

  3. Once the cakes are cool, spread the whipped cream between the layers and on top.

  4. Serve with sliced oranges or add sliced bananas between the layers for extra flavor.

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

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

  2. Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,371 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Cream + buttertop 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

Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Flour
Forms the cake's main structure once baked.
Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar to lift the batter as it bakes.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
Thick sweet cream
Whipped into stiff peaks to give the filling and topping a light, airy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.

The step that matters

Whipping the thick sweet cream. Cream must be whipped only until it holds stiff peaks. Overwhipping makes it grainy and can turn it into butter, while underwhipping leaves a runny filling that will not hold between the layers.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

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