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Dessert

Milk and Honey Cake

A moist cake made with milk, honey, butter or shortening, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Milk and Honey 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.

Prepare

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

  2. In a bowl, combine shortening, salt, and vanilla.

  3. Gradually add sugar and cream until light and fluffy.

  4. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

  5. Sift flour and baking powder together three times.

  6. In another bowl, combine milk and honey.

Make the batter

  1. Add small amounts of flour to the cream mixture alternately with the milk and honey, beating until smooth.

  2. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8x8x2-inch pan or into 8-inch layer pans.

Bake

  1. Bake until done.

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. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + honeytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,262 recipes

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

  3. Evaporated milk + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Vanilla and sugar 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

Shortening or butter
Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, making the cake rise and become airy.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
Sugar
Helps the creamed fat hold air and adds sweetness and browning.
Honey
Adds sweetness, flavor, and moisture that keeps the cake soft.

The step that matters

Alternating flour with the milk and honey. Adding the flour in small amounts and alternating with the liquid keeps the batter smooth and well emulsified. Adding it all at once can overwork the gluten, making the cake tough or dense.

“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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