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Dessert

Caramel Cake

A layered cake with a caramel filling made from brown and white sugar.

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 ↓

Caramel 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 batter

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the milk and mix well.

  4. Gradually add the flour, baking powder, and egg whites, mixing until smooth.

  5. Stir in vanilla extract for flavor.

Bake and make the filling

  1. Divide the batter into three layers and bake until golden.

  2. For the filling, combine dark brown sugar and white sugar in a saucepan.

  3. Cover with water and boil until it reaches a hard candy stage in cold water.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in sweet cream and butter until well combined.

Assemble

  1. Let the mixture cool before spreading it between the cake layers.

  2. Add vanilla extract just before spreading the filling.

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. Butter + milktop 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

Egg whites
Provide structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing tenderness and flavor to the cake and filling.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Dark brown sugar
Adds moisture and molasses flavor to the caramel filling.
White sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it cook to a firm candy-like set.

The step that matters

Boiling the filling to hard candy stage. Sugar syrup must reach the correct temperature to set firm when cooled. Undercooked filling stays soft and runny, while overcooked filling turns hard and brittle, so timing matters.

“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.

More caramel cake recipes

Chocolate 16Filling 11Potato 9Maple 4 See all 114 →

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