Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.
Make the caramel
In a saucepan, mix the dark brown sugar or maple sugar, 1 cup of butter, and sweet cream. Boil until it thickens, but not as long as for candy.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together 2 cups of sugar and 1 small cup of butter.
Add 4 egg whites and 1 cup of milk to the mixture, then mix well.
Sift together 3 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, then gradually add to the wet ingredients.
Bake and assemble
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Use the caramel mixture as filling between the layers 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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 whites
- Add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the cake rise and turn light.
- Dark brown sugar or maple sugar
- Makes the caramel filling sweet and gives it a deep, rich flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in both the batter and caramel.
- Sweet cream
- Adds richness and body so the caramel thickens when boiled.
The step that matters
Boiling the caramel. Boil only until the mixture thickens, not as long as candy. Over-boiling sugar and cream can make the filling hard, grainy, or scorched once it cools.
“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.
More caramel cake recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.