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Dessert

Cream Cake

A layered cake with a custard filling made from milk, eggs, sugar, and corn starch.

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 ↓

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

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk.

  6. Divide the batter into layers.

  7. Bake until golden.

Make the custard filling

  1. For the filling, heat ½ pint of milk to boiling.

  2. Mix 2 teaspoons of corn starch with a little cold milk, then stir into the boiling milk.

  3. Take a small amount of the mixture and combine it with 1 beaten egg and ½ cup sugar.

  4. Return this mixture to the boiling milk.

  5. Stir constantly until thick.

  6. Let the custard cool.

  7. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Assemble

  1. Spread the custard between the cake layers and on top.

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

Eggs
Add structure and richness, setting the batter as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and tenderness, and carries flavour through the cake.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to help the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter so baking soda releases gas for lift.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk so the custard sets into a smooth filling.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard until thick. Starch granules only thicken once heated to boiling and stirred, and stopping early leaves a runny custard. Constant stirring prevents scorching and lumps on the bottom of the pan.

“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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