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Dessert

Silver Cake

A light, fluffy cake made with sugar, butter, egg whites, cornstarch, milk, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and vanilla or almond extract.

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 ↓

Silver 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.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda, then sift together.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the butter until creamy, then gradually add the sugar and mix well.

  2. Add the vanilla or almond extract.

  3. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  4. Combine the cornstarch and milk with the butter and sugar mixture, then gently fold in the egg whites and sifted flour.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a baking sheet, about 2 inches deep.

  2. Bake for about 30 minutes.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that gives the cake its light structure.
Flour
Its proteins set during baking to form the cake's main structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds tenderness and richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air.
Cornstarch
Softens the crumb, giving a finer, more tender texture than flour alone.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the mix to produce gas that helps the cake rise.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites and flour gently. The batter's rise depends on the air whipped into the egg whites. Vigorous stirring deflates those bubbles, so the cake comes out denser and flatter than intended.

“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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