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Dessert

Neapolitan Cake

A layered cake with raisins, currants, citron, and a sweet butter glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Neapolitan 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 dark batter

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

  2. Cream 1 ½ cups butter and 2 ⅓ cups brown sugar together.

  3. Add the beaten egg yolks and mix well.

  4. Stir in 1 ⅓ cups sweet milk.

  5. In a separate bowl, combine 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda, 2 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar, and 3 ¼ cups flour.

  6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the egg whites.

  7. Toss the reserved 1 cup of flour with the raisins, currants, and citron, then fold into the batter.

Make the white batter and bake

  1. Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the white part, cream ½ cup butter and ¾ cup granulated sugar.

  3. Add 6 egg whites and mix until fluffy.

  4. Stir in ½ cup sweet milk, 2 heaping cups flour, 3 heaping teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

  5. Bake in two layers until golden.

Assemble

  1. Layer the dark and white cakes with icing in between.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  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. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites add richness and structure, helping the batter set as the cake bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and milk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acts with baking soda to create lift and keeps the crumb tender.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps trap air when creamed with sugar.
Raisins
Add moisture and chewy sweetness to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Folding the fruit in lightly with reserved flour. Tossing the raisins, currants and citron in flour helps keep them suspended instead of sinking to the bottom. Overmixing after adding them can deflate the batter and toughen the crumb.

“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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