Skip to main content
Dessert

Boston Velvet Cake

A cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, corn starch, almonds, and almond extract, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Boston Velvet 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.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar.

  2. Beat the egg yolks very light and mix in the cold water.

  3. Sift together the flour, corn starch, salt, and baking powder; add to the butter mixture.

  4. Cut and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites, then add the almond extract.

Bake and serve

  1. Turn the mixture into a buttered and floured shallow cake pan.

  2. Sprinkle the almonds over the top of the cake.

  3. Bake for 35 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  4. Do not frost this cake.

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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + corntop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy rise.
Egg yolks
Add richness, moisture and tender structure to the crumb.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and stays light.
Fine granulated sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps tenderize the crumb.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the stiffly beaten whites. Stirring or deflating the batter would result in a denser, less airy cake.

“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.

You might also like

Corn CakeCorn Cake90 recipesCorn Starch CakeCorn Starch Cake89 recipesAlmond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipes