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 Pies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pie layers
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, flour, milk, butter, and baking powder until smooth.
Pour the batter into thin tins and bake until lightly golden.
Make the custard filling
For the custard filling, heat the milk until it reaches boiling point.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together.
Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture while stirring continuously.
Return the mixture to the heat and thicken with cornstarch dissolved in a little milk.
Add vanilla for flavor.
Assemble
Once the pies are cool, split them in half and spread the custard filling between the layers.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and thicken the custard as they set with heat.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake layers together.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the layers.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and become light.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the hot milk into a smooth, sliceable custard filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and custard and helps the layers brown.
The step that matters
Thickening the custard. Stirring the hot milk into the eggs slowly while whisking prevents the eggs from scrambling. Returning the mixture to heat then lets the cornstarch gelatinize and thicken the custard evenly.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, milk, butter):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, milk, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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