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Dessert

White Layer Cake

A light, layered cake made with egg whites, butter, sugar, milk, flour, corn starch, baking powder, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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White Layer Cake

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 ↓

White Layer 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 batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the egg whites and mix well.

  4. Stir in the milk and vanilla.

  5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, and baking powder.

  6. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until smooth.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the batter into deep pie pans.

  2. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  3. Once cooled, spread soft icing between each layer and add a tablespoon of bright red jelly for color.

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

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

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

Egg whites
Provide structure and lift, helping the cake set and hold its airy crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for tender texture and a rich flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy creamed base.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Corn starch
Softens the crumb, giving a finer, more tender texture than flour alone.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.

The step that matters

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding dry ingredients gradually and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter evenly combined. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake 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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