Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Boston Cream Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the paste
Combine ½ pint water and 4 ounces butter in a saucepan. Heat slowly until boiling.
Gradually stir in ½ pound flour, beating well until smooth.
Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
Shape and bake
Once cool, beat in the yolks of 6 eggs, then fold in whisked egg whites until stiff.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto greased parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
Once baked, slit each cake on one side with a sharp knife.
Fill and serve
Fill with cornflour blancmange and add a little vanilla flavoring.
For a hot filling, use less sugar and add a small spoonful of warm fruit jelly or jam.
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.
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Flour
- Forms the thick paste that holds the cakes' shape while baking.
- Eggs
- Add structure and lift, as the whisked whites expand and set in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the paste.
- Cornflour blancmange
- Sets into a thick, creamy filling that sits inside the cakes.
The step that matters
Let the cooked paste cool before adding the eggs. If the paste is still hot, the egg yolks can scramble and the mixture will not absorb the eggs smoothly. A cooled paste takes in the eggs evenly, giving a smooth batter that holds its shape when baked.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillathe original
- Figfits less well
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, egg, sugar. 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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