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Dessert

Boston Cake

Boston Cake is a sweet baked loaf made with sugar, butter, eggs, flour, corn starch, milk, vanilla, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Boston 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. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  2. Break in one egg and beat well.

  3. Sift the flour three times, adding the salt, baking powder, and corn starch the last time.

  4. Add a little of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.

  5. Stir in the second egg and the milk.

  6. Gradually add the remaining flour and the vanilla.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) in a loaf or two layers.

  2. If using layers, frost with chocolate frosting and cream filling.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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 trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets in the oven.
Pastry flour
Provides the main structure of the cake while staying tender because of its lower protein.
Corn starch
Softens the flour's gluten, producing a fine, delicate crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven so the cake rises and becomes light.
Milk
Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter flows smoothly.

The step that matters

Adding the flour mixture gradually. Adding flour in stages after creaming and egg addition keeps the batter smooth and emulsified. Overmixing once the flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.

“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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