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Dessert

Cream Cake

A layered cake with a milk-based filling and vanilla-flavored icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cream 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. In a bowl, cream together the powdered sugar and softened butter.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Stir in the milk, baking soda, cream of tartar, and flour until well combined.

  5. Divide the batter into three layers.

  6. Bake the layers until golden.

Make the filling

  1. Heat ½ pint of milk to boiling for the filling.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch with a little cold milk.

  3. Take a small amount of the boiling milk and mix it with the beaten egg and sugar.

  4. Return this mixture to the boiling milk and stir constantly until thickened.

  5. Let the filling cool before spreading it between the cake layers.

Finish

  1. Flavor the icing with vanilla.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Creams with the sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas, helping the layers rise.
Cornstarch
Thickens the boiled milk filling so it sets to a spreadable custard.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps create a fine, even crumb when creamed.

The step that matters

Return the egg mixture to the boiling milk and stir constantly. The egg and cornstarch can scorch or form lumps if left unstirred; constant stirring keeps the custard smooth as the starch swells and thickens it.

“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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