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Dessert

Cream Cake

A layered cake made with eggs, sugar, corn starch, milk, vanilla, butter, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, flour, and optional cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA very quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat together 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons corn starch.

  2. Boil 1 pint of milk with a vanilla bean.

  3. Once the milk boils, stir in the egg mixture continuously until it thickens.

  4. Before it cools, stir in 1 tablespoon of butter.

Make the batter

  1. In another bowl, beat together 3 eggs and 1 cup sugar.

  2. Dissolve ½ teaspoon baking soda in 1 cup milk and add to the egg mixture.

  3. Sift together 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1½ cups flour, then add to the mixture, incorporating the baking soda last.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into jelly cake pans and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  2. Optionally, add 2-3 tablespoons of cream to improve the cake.

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. Milk + buttertop 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
Provide structure and richness as they set during baking and thicken the custard.
Corn starch
Thickens the custard so it becomes smooth and set when heated.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and moistens the batter.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and richer flavour.
Flour
Provides the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter and helps stabilise the rise with the baking soda.

The step that matters

Stir the custard continuously while it thickens. Starch granules swell and thicken when heated, but if left still they settle and scorch or form lumps. Constant stirring keeps heat even so the custard sets smooth.

“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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