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Dessert

Strawberry Caramel Cake

A cake made with preserved strawberries, eggs, milk, flour, and a caramel filling of brown sugar, butter, water, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Strawberry 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 cake

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

  2. Cream butter and sugar together.

  3. Add egg yolks, strawberries, and vanilla; stir well.

  4. Mix in milk and beaten egg whites.

  5. Add flour and baking powder; beat for 5 minutes.

  6. Pour batter into a prepared cake pan and bake until done.

Make the caramel filling

  1. For the filling, boil brown sugar, butter, and water for 3 minutes.

  2. Add cream and vanilla; stir well.

  3. Boil slowly until it forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water.

  4. Pour into a vessel and beat until thick. Adjust consistency if needed.

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

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

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

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

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
Egg whites and yolks add structure and richness to the crumb as they set.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Brown sugar
Forms the caramel filling and adds moisture and a deep molasses flavour.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture to the batter and helps it bake into a tender crumb.
Cream
Adds richness and fat to the caramel, giving it a smooth, soft texture.

The step that matters

Boiling the caramel to soft ball stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set soft once cooled. Too little cooking leaves it runny, and too much makes it hard and grainy.

“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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