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 ↓
Whipped Cream 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 cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, stir the sugar into the well-beaten yolks of the eggs.
Add the stiffly beaten egg whites, milk, baking powder, and flour; mix well.
Pour the batter into two jelly tins and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
Fill and serve
For the filling, whip the cream until thick, then add powdered sugar and vanilla.
Pour the whipped cream between the layers and on top of the cake.
Serve fresh.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Eggs
- Yolks sweeten and enrich the batter, while beaten whites add lift and a light, airy crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together once the batter sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Thick sweet cream
- Whipped into a filling and topping that adds richness, moisture, and a soft texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps tenderize the crumb.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Mixing them in too vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a denser cake, so they should be combined gently after the batter is prepared.
“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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