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 ↓
Cream Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the choux pastry
Combine water and butter in a saucepan and heat until boiling.
Stir in flour and continue stirring until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Remove from heat and beat in eggs one at a time.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a buttered baking sheet, leaving space between each.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C).
Make the cream
In a separate bowl, mix milk with 3 tablespoons reserved for cornstarch.
Heat the milk over boiling water. Stir in cornstarch until thickened.
Combine the hot mixture with beaten egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla, stirring until very thick.
Assemble
Once both the cakes and cream are cool, make a small opening in the side of each cake.
Fill each cake with 2-3 tablespoons of the cream.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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).
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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, setting the choux as they cook.
- Flour
- Forms the starch structure that holds the hollow choux shell.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the choux dough.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream as they set and add richness to its texture.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, stable cream.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour into the boiling water and butter. The mixture must be dried out until it pulls away from the pan, because excess moisture left in the dough will make the choux collapse or stay gummy when baked.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, egg, milk, 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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