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Minnehaha Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 ↓

Minnehaha 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.

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the whites of 3 eggs until stiff.

  3. Gradually add ⅔ cup sugar and continue beating.

  4. Mix in ½ cup softened butter, 4 tablespoons sweet milk, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 cup of flour and corn starch mixture.

  5. Flavor with vanilla extract.

  6. In another bowl, beat 2 eggs and mix with ½ cup butter, ½ cup red sugar sand, and enough white sugar to make ⅔ cup.

  7. Add 4 tablespoons sweet milk, 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon rose extract.

  8. In a third bowl, mix the yolks of 3 eggs with ½ cup butter, ⅔ cup sugar, 4 tablespoons sweet milk, 1 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

  9. Flavor with vanilla mixture.

  10. Layer the cake with 1 cup of cut raisins spread over boiled icing.

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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

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