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Dessert

Honey Cake

A simple cake made with sugar, sour cream, flour, baking soda, and honey.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Honey Cake

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Honey Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Mix the sugar and sour cream together.

  2. Dredge in the flour and add honey to flavor the mixture.

  3. Stir well to thoroughly combine all ingredients.

  4. Add the baking soda and beat the mixture for another 5 minutes.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour into a buttered tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes.

  2. Serve warm.

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

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

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + honeytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,932 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + honeytop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,637 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, keeping the cake tender and rich.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of sour cream to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the cake a soft, moist crumb and browning.
Honey
Adds sweetness and aroma and contributes moisture to the batter.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda and beating for 5 minutes. Baking soda reacts with the acid in sour cream to release gas that lifts the batter. Beating after adding it should be brief and steady, since over-mixing can develop gluten and make the cake dense and tough.

“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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