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Dessert

Lazy Daisy Cake

A cake topped with brown sugar, melted butter, cream, and nuts or cocoa.

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 ↓

Lazy Daisy 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.

Make the cake

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

  2. Heat the milk and butter together.

  3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the sugar, then beat until combined.

  4. Stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla.

  5. Carefully add the hot milk mixture, stirring gently.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased flat pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Top and finish

  1. While the cake is baking, prepare the topping by mixing brown sugar, melted butter, cream, and nut meats or cocoa.

  2. Spread the topping on the warm cake and place it under the broiler for 5 to 10 minutes until caramelized.

  3. If you don't have a broiler, use only 2 tablespoons of cream and return the cake to the oven for a few minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Flour
Provides the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and turns light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it tender and browning.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
Brown sugar
Forms the caramelized, sweet topping under the broiler.

The step that matters

Broiling the topping. The topping can burn quickly under the broiler while the sugar caramelizes. Watch it closely, since sugar darkens fast at high heat and can go from bubbling to scorched in moments.

“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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