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Dessert

Jam Sandwiches

A sweet sandwich made by baking a custard‑like batter and spreading jam between two cakes.

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

Jam Sandwiches

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Mix the egg yolks smoothly with flour, ground rice, salt, sugar, thick cream, and whole milk.

  2. Beat the egg whites to a firm froth and gently fold them into the mixture.

Bake and assemble

  1. Butter two large plates and pour the mixture into them.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until set and lightly browned.

  3. Spread jam over one cake and place the other on top, browned side up.

  4. Sift powdered sugar over the top before serving.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 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

Egg whites
Whipped to a firm froth, they trap air and give the cakes a light, risen structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help set the batter into a tender crumb as it bakes.
All-purpose flour
Provides starch that sets during baking and gives the cakes their body.
Ground rice
Adds a fine, slightly crumbly texture that keeps the sponge tender.
Thick cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the cakes richer and softer.
Jam
Adds sweetness and fruity acidity between the two cakes.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to a firm froth hold air that makes the cakes rise. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring hard deflates the foam and leaves dense, flat cakes.

“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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