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Dessert

White Layer Cake

A layered cake with almond filling and cream frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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White Layer Cake

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 ↓

White 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.

Make the cake

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

  2. Sift the flour and baking powder together.

  3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  4. Add the water and flour alternately, mixing well after each addition.

  5. Stir in the flavoring and the beaten egg whites.

  6. Divide the batter into two greased cake pans and bake until golden.

Make the filling and assemble

  1. Boil the heavy cream with cornstarch, egg yolks, chopped almonds, and sugar until thick, stirring constantly.

  2. Spread the filling between the layers.

  3. Frost the top.

  4. Garnish with split 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb and flavor.
Eggs
Egg whites add structure and lift; yolks add richness and help the filling set.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while tenderizing the crumb.
Heavy cream
Provides fat and moisture, making the filling smooth and rich.
Almonds
Add nutty aroma and texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Boil the filling until thick, stirring constantly. The cornstarch and egg yolks thicken the cream as they heat. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom and keeps the yolks from clumping, giving a smooth, evenly set 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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