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Dessert

Strawberry Gem-Cake

A baked strawberry cake made with cream, milk, flour, and topped with strawberries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Strawberry Gem-Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

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

  2. Mix the cream and milk (or water) together.

  3. Combine the Graham flour and white flour to thicken the mixture.

  4. Make a batter that is thick enough to drop from a spoon.

  5. Pour the batter into well-oiled gem pans.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until thoroughly done.

  2. Once half-cold, split the gems in half using a fork.

  3. Place the halves crust side down on plates.

  4. Add a layer of prepared strawberries on top.

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. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the gems a tender, moist crumb.
Graham flour
Provides the structure and a nutty, wholesome flavour in the batter.
White flour
Provides the main structure and thickens the batter so it holds its shape.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps form the batter into a soft, cohesive crumb.

The step that matters

Splitting the gems while half-cold. Gems that are still too hot are fragile and will tear or go gummy inside when split. Letting them cool partway lets the crumb set so the halves separate cleanly.

“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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