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Dessert

Layer Cakes

A multi-colored layered cake with various fillings, including custard, chocolate, almond, and lemon, baked in layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 26 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 ↓

Layer Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream 2 cups powdered sugar with 1 cup butter.

  2. Add 5 separated eggs, beaten whites and yolks, ½ cup milk, 3 cups flour, and a little nutmeg.

  3. Cream ½ pound butter with 1 pound powdered sugar.

  4. Add 10 whipped egg whites and 1 pound flour.

  5. Divide the batter in half.

  6. Color one half with a little cochineal.

  7. Cream ¼ cup butter with 1 cup powdered sugar.

  8. Add 3 lightly beaten eggs, then 2 tablespoons cream.

  9. Add 1 heaping cup flour, then 2 tablespoons grated chocolate.

Bake

  1. Bake in layers, making three of each color.

Make the custard

  1. Heat 2 cups milk to boiling.

  2. Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with milk.

  3. Add 2 eggs and cook until thick.

  4. Divide the custard.

  5. Stir 2 tablespoons grated chocolate into one half.

  6. Stir 1 teaspoon bitter almond into the other.

Finish and serve

  1. Whip 3 egg whites with 1 heaping cup powdered sugar.

  2. Add juice and grated peel of 1 lemon.

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

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

Butter
Creams with the sugar to give the cake its tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Whipped whites lighten the batter and set the structure as the cake bakes.
All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the cake once it is set by heat.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps create a fine, even crumb when creamed with fat.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard filling as it cooks with the milk.
Milk
Provides moisture and, in the custard, thickens with starch as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until thick. Cornstarch thickens only when the mixture reaches a boil and stays there briefly. Stopping early leaves a runny filling, while overcooking can scorch the milk or let the eggs curdle.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, cream, vanilla):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Capersfits less well
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, cream, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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