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 ↓
Caramel 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the flour, cornstarch, milk, baking powder, vanilla, melted chocolate, and egg yolks; mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Divide the batter into three greased cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Make the filling
For the filling, combine the granulated sugar and cold water in a saucepan. Boil rapidly without stirring until it spins a fine hair.
Remove from heat and quickly add to the beaten egg white and vanilla; beat until creamy.
Assemble
Spread the filling between the layers and on top of the cake.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks add richness and structure; whipped whites lighten the batter for rise.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
- Cornstarch
- Softens the crumb, giving a more tender texture than flour alone.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy creamed base.
The step that matters
Boil the filling syrup without stirring. Stirring a boiling sugar syrup can cause crystals to form, making the filling grainy. Boiling until it spins a fine hair means the syrup has reached the right concentration to set into a glossy, creamy filling when beaten into the egg white.
“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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