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Dessert

Railroad Cake

A layered cake made with egg whites, flour, butter, cream, sugar, raisins, chocolate, walnuts, and assembled with icing or fruit filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Railroad 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. 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.

  3. Cream the butter and sugar together in another bowl until light and fluffy.

  4. Add the cream and mix well.

  5. Sift the flour and baking powder together, then gradually add to the butter mixture.

  6. Divide the batter into four parts.

  7. Leave one part plain. Mix raisins into one part. Mix grated chocolate into another part. Mix chopped walnuts into the last part.

Bake and assemble

  1. Pour each batter into greased cake pans.

  2. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. Let the cakes cool.

  4. Layer the cakes with plain icing or fruit filling.

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 + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks to lighten the batter and help the cakes rise.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake crumb together as it bakes.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness.
Granulated sugar
Creamed with butter to add sweetness and help create a light, fluffy texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the heated batter so the cakes rise and become light.
Heavy cream
Adds moisture and richness to the batter for a softer crumb.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks and are folded in gently, since deflating the foam removes the air that makes the cake light.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, butter, cream, sugar, raisin, chocolate):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, butter, cream, sugar, raisin, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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