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Dessert

Philadelphia Cake

A layered cake with light and dark batters, raisin filling, and icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 25 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Philadelphia 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 batters

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together ¾ cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add 1 cup sweet milk, 1 cup corn starch, and 2 cups flour, mixing well.

  4. In a separate bowl, beat the 8 egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold into the batter.

  5. Add 2 teaspoons baking powder and flavoring, then divide the batter into three layers.

  6. For the dark batter, mix 8 egg yolks with 1 cup butter, 2 cups brown sugar, and 3 cups flour.

  7. Stir in ⅓ cup brandy, 1 cup sweet milk, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 pound chopped raisins.

  8. Add spices to taste and divide into three layers.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, cook 2 cups sour cream, 2 cups sugar, and 6 eggs in a double boiler until thick.

  2. Mix 2 heaping teaspoons corn starch with 6 tablespoons sweet milk, then add to the filling mixture.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in ¼ pound chopped blanched almonds.

Assemble and decorate

  1. Spread the filling between the layers of cake, ice with plain white icing, and decorate with cherries and blanched almonds.

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites add lift and airy structure, while yolks enrich the batter and filling.
Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and adds richness and tender texture to the cake.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake layers as the batter sets in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, browned crumb.
Corn starch
Softens the crumb and thickens the filling so it sets smoothly.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the dark batter layers.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling in a double boiler. Gentle indirect heat lets the eggs and sour cream thicken slowly without curdling or scrambling, giving a smooth, sliceable filling.

“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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