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Dessert

Delicate Cake

A light cake made with powdered sugar, butter, flour, corn starch, milk, egg whites, cream of tartar, baking soda, and almond or vanilla extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Delicate 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 ↓

Delicate 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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together the powdered sugar and butter until smooth.

  3. Sift the flour and corn starch together, then gradually add to the creamed mixture.

  4. Stir in the milk until well combined.

Make the batter

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy and fold them into the batter.

  2. Add the cream of tartar and baking soda, mixing gently.

  3. Flavor with almond or vanilla extract.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
Flour
Provides the main structure once heated, setting the crumb as the cake bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor to the crumb.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and creams with butter to help create a smooth, fine texture.
Corn starch
Lightens the flour blend, producing a more tender, delicate crumb.
Cream of tartar
Stabilizes the whipped egg whites, helping the foam hold its volume.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped egg whites hold the air that lifts the cake. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from deflating and preserves a light texture.

“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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