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Dessert

Geranium Cake

A sweet cake flavored with rose geranium leaves, topped with a cream‑syrup glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Geranium 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 batter

  1. Cream the butter with the powdered sugar.

  2. Gradually add the water and sifted flour mixed with baking powder.

  3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Prepare and bake

  1. Line a square baking pan with writing paper and butter the pan.

  2. Place a layer of rose geranium leaves on the bottom.

  3. Pour the batter over the leaves.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C).

Make the syrup and finish

  1. Boil ⅓ cup water and 1 cup sugar until it reaches a hair's breadth consistency.

  2. Add the heavy cream.

  3. Beat until cool.

  4. Pour the syrup quickly over 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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Rose + geraniumtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-rose oxide (green, flower).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Egg whites
Beaten stiff and folded in to lighten the batter and help it rise.
All-purpose flour
Forms the cake's structure once baked with the leavening.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps it set into a moist, sticky glaze.
Heavy cream
Added to the hot syrup to soften it and add richness.

The step that matters

Pour the syrup quickly over the cake. The syrup must be at the right stage and poured while still workable, because it cools and thickens fast and may not soak in evenly if it is allowed to set first.

“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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