Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cream Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the flour, sugar, baking powder, and water until smooth.
Pour the batter into jelly cake pans and bake until golden.
Make the cream
For the cream, heat the milk in a saucepan.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, cornstarch, and sugar together.
Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook until thickened, then let it cool.
Flavor the cream as desired once cooled.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 to the cake batter as it sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake crumb once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the cream and gives it a soft, smooth body.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the cream as it heats, giving it a set, spoonable texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and cream and helps the cake brown while baking.
The step that matters
Adding the hot milk to the egg mixture. Pouring hot milk in too quickly, or without constant stirring, can scramble the egg. Stirring while adding the milk gently warms the eggs so the cream cooks smooth, and the cornstarch then thickens it evenly when returned to the heat.
“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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