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Dessert

Lafayettes, or Sandwiches

A layered cake made with eggs, sugar, flour, butter, and jam, baked in ring molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lafayettes, or Sandwiches

8 pieces
Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Gently fold in the sifted flour until just combined.

  4. Carefully stir in the melted butter.

  5. Divide the batter into greased ring molds placed on parchment paper.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and cooked through.

  2. Once cooled, spread jam on one layer and top with another.

  3. Cut into 8 pieces and serve.

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 + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter 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

Eggs
Provide structure and richness as they set during baking, holding the cake together.
Egg yolks
Add fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb and golden colour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy batter when whisked with the eggs.
Sifted flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Melted butter
Adds fat for moistness and tenderness in the finished cake.
Jam
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour between the layers.

The step that matters

Fold in the flour gently. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten and makes the cake tough, while gentle folding keeps the light, airy texture the whisked eggs and sugar created.

“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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