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Dessert

Custard or Cream Cake

A sponge cake with a sweet custard filling flavored with vanilla or lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Custard or Cream 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 cake batter

  1. Cream together the sugar and butter until smooth.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in the sweet milk and add to the mixture.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into the batter.

  4. Stir the cream of tartar into the sifted flour and quickly add to the mixture.

  5. Pour the batter into cake pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.

Make the custard

  1. For the custard, heat 2 cups of sweet milk in a double boiler.

  2. In a bowl, mix corn starch, sugar, and egg yolks with a little cold milk.

  3. Stir this mixture into the boiling milk until thickened, then cool.

  4. Add vanilla or lemon flavoring to the cooled custard.

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

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Butter
Creams with the sugar to add fat and a tender crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cake its rise and light structure.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, stabilizing the whipped egg whites and aiding the leavening reaction.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and smoothness as they set with heat.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites into the batter. Egg whites hold air only while whipped to stiff peaks. Stirring vigorously or letting them sit deflates the foam, so the cake rises less and bakes denser. Fold gently and add promptly.

“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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