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Dessert

Cream Cake

A cake made with egg whites, powdered sugar, flour, and a filling of milk, sugar, corn starch, egg yolks, almonds, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the cake

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

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. Gradually add powdered sugar while continuing to beat.

  4. Sift together flour and cream of tartar, then fold into the egg mixture.

  5. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, combine milk, sugar, corn starch, and egg yolks in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in blanched almonds and vanilla extract.

Assemble

  1. Once the cake is cool, fill with the prepared mixture.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
Egg yolks
Thicken the filling as they cook and add richness to the custard.
Flour
Provides the starch and structure that sets the cake crumb once baked.
Cream of tartar
Stabilizes the whipped egg whites so they hold their peaks longer.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth filling as it heats.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the filling, adding moisture and body when cooked.

The step that matters

Cook the filling until thickened. Egg yolks and corn starch must be heated with constant stirring so the starch swells and the yolks thicken the custard without scrambling or sticking.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, cream, milk, corn, vanilla):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Hazelnutfits less well
  4. Pistachiofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, cream, milk, corn, vanilla. 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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