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Dessert

Sweet Flannel Cakes

A sweet cake made from soft-boiled rice, cream, sugar, eggs, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Sweet Flannel Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Let the soft-boiled rice cool.

  2. In a bowl, combine the cooled rice, cream, sugar, and eggs. Mix the ingredients well until smooth.

Cook

  1. Heat a griddle and pour the batter onto it.

  2. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Soft-boiled rice
Forms the body of the batter and adds a soft, tender crumb.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture to the batter.
Sugar
Sweetens the cakes and helps them brown on the griddle.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cakes set.
Yeast or pearl ash
Acts as the leavening agent, helping the cakes rise and become light.

The step that matters

Cook until golden brown on both sides. Sugar browns quickly on a hot griddle, so the surface can scorch before the centre sets. Moderate heat and a check on both sides lets the cakes cook through and colour evenly.

“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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