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Dessert

Extra Nice Dessert Dish

A layered cake topped with custard, whipped cream, and strawberry sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Extra Nice Dessert Dish

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat 3 eggs and gradually add 1 cup of sugar until well combined.

  3. Sift in 1 cup of flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, then mix gently.

  4. Stir in 3 tablespoons of boiling water until smooth.

  5. Pour the batter into round cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Make the custard

  1. For the custard, heat 1 quart of milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 3 tablespoons of sugar, then slowly add the hot milk, stirring constantly.

  3. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, then pour over the cooled cakes.

Finish and serve

  1. Whip ½ pint of thick cream until stiff, sweeten to taste, and spread over the custard.

  2. Chill the dessert thoroughly in the refrigerator.

  3. For the strawberry sauce, cream together 1 cup of sugar and a piece of butter the size of an egg.

  4. Add 2 cups of mashed strawberries and the beaten egg white, mixing well.

  5. Serve the sauce over the dessert.

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

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

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
Build the structure of the sponge and thicken the custard as they set with heat.
All-purpose flour
Forms the starch and gluten framework that gives the sponge cake its body.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Milk
Provides the liquid base of the custard, giving it richness and a smooth set.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a soft, whipped topping that contrasts the custard.
Strawberries
Add fruity flavour and acidity to the sauce, with natural moisture.

The step that matters

Cook the custard over low heat until thickened. Eggs thicken when heated, but too much heat makes them scramble and curdle. Gentle, constant stirring over low heat keeps the custard smooth.

“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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