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Dutch Apple Cake

A baked apple cake made with flour, butter, eggs, milk, apples, sugar, and optional cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Dutch Apple Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  3. Beat the egg with the milk.

  4. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

Top and bake

  1. Core and peel the apples.

  2. Cut the apples into eighths.

  3. Lay the apple slices in parallel rows on top of the dough, sharp edge down, and press slightly into it.

  4. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the apples if desired.

  5. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

  6. Serve with lemon sauce.

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. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Cream of tartar
Acidic partner to the baking soda, helping the batter rise and set evenly.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and tenderness to the crumb.
Sour apples
Add tartness and moisture, and soften into the cake as it bakes.

The step that matters

Stirring the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Mixing only until combined keeps the batter tender. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which makes the cake tough and dense.

Swap the cinnamon

The recipe marks cinnamon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cream, butter, egg, milk, apple, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonthe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream, butter, egg, milk, apple, sugar. 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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