Skip to main content
Dessert

Sweet Potato Custard Pie

A custard pie made with mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, molasses, butter, eggs, milk, cinnamon, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sweet potato and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 539 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Sweet Potato Custard Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA medium oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a medium 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).

Make the custard

  1. In a large bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, baking powder, melted butter, cinnamon, molasses, and beaten eggs.

  2. Gradually add the milk until the mixture is thin enough to pour easily.

Bake

  1. Line deep pie tins with pastry and pour in the custard mixture until nearly full.

  2. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, or until set.

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. Sweet potato + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together539 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
Set the custard into a sliceable, tender filling as they cook.
Mashed sweet potatoes
Provide the bulk, moisture and body of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
Milk
Thins the mixture to a pourable consistency and adds moisture.
Baking powder
Helps the custard rise slightly and lighten its texture as it bakes.

The step that matters

Adding the milk gradually. Milk must be added slowly so the batter reaches a thin, pourable consistency without becoming lumpy or too loose. A properly thinned custard sets evenly once baked, while an overly thick one can bake unevenly.

“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.

You might also like

Deep-Fried Potato BallsDeep-Fried Potato Balls119 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesOrange Potato BreadOrange Potato Bread80 recipes