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Dessert

Old Fashioned Layer Cake

A three-layered cake with molasses-spiced batter and lemon-egg white frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Old Fashioned Layer 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 cakes

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

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Gradually add the flour and baking powder, alternating with the sweet milk, and mix until smooth.

  5. Divide the batter into three equal parts.

  6. To one part, add the molasses and spices, mixing in a little more flour if needed.

  7. Pour the plain batter into two greased cake pans and the spiced batter into one.

Bake and cool

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

  2. Let the cakes cool before frosting.

Make the frosting and assemble

  1. For the frosting, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add the sugar.

  2. Fold in the grated lemon and juice, then spread between the layers and on top of the cake.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 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. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, fine crumb.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness, binding the batter as the cake sets.
All-purpose flour
Builds the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise light and open.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and browning to the spiced layer.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to form a light, airy frosting that holds its shape.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites for the frosting. Egg whites must reach stiff peaks before the sugar is added gradually; under-whipped or greasy whites will not hold air, leaving a runny frosting. Any trace of yolk or fat prevents whipping.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, molasses, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, molasses, cinnamon. 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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