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Dessert

Indian Loaf Cake

A yeast-leavened loaf cake made with powdered sugar, milk, butter, Indian meal, eggs, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Indian Loaf 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. Mix the powdered sugar with the milk.

  2. Cut the butter into the mixture.

  3. Heat the mixture in a pan until scalding hot.

  4. Add enough sifted yellow Indian meal to achieve a thick, mush-like consistency.

  5. Beat the mixture vigorously for 15 minutes.

  6. Let the mixture cool.

  7. Beat the eggs lightly.

  8. Gradually stir the eggs into the mixture when it's warm.

  9. Add the yeast.

  10. Beat the mixture for another 15 minutes.

Rise and bake

  1. Prepare a well-buttered tin mold or earthen pan with a center pipe.

  2. Pour the mixture into the mold.

  3. Cover the mixture.

  4. Let it rise in a warm place for about 4 hours.

  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours.

Serve

  1. Turn the cake out with the broad surface down.

  2. Serve hot.

  3. Cut into slices with butter.

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 + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Yellow indian meal
Provides the thick, mush-like body that becomes the crumb of the cake.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the cake set as it bakes.
Yeast
Produces gas during the long rise, leavening the batter so it becomes light.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that hydrates the meal and carries the sugar and butter.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavour.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture after adding the meal. Vigorous beating for 15 minutes develops a smooth, evenly mixed batter before the eggs and yeast are added, so the structure and rise are even.

“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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