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Dessert

Cream Pie

A baked cake with a sweet milk and egg filling, topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Cream Pie

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.

Make the cake

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

  2. Sift together the flour and Magic Baking Powder.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together.

  4. Add the sifted flour mixture.

  5. Fold in the whipped egg whites.

  6. Divide the batter into two layers.

  7. Bake until golden.

Make the filling

  1. Scald the milk for the filling.

  2. Combine the beaten egg with the scalded milk in a bowl.

  3. Return the mixture to the heat.

  4. Add the flour mixed with a little milk.

  5. Add the sugar.

  6. Stir until thickened.

  7. Let it cool.

Assemble and serve

  1. Spread the filling between the cake layers.

  2. Top with whipped cream.

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

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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
Whipped whites lighten the batter and help it rise, while yolks add richness and structure.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake layers and thickens the filling.
Magic baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake layers rise and become light.
Milk
Moistens the batter and, when heated with egg, forms the thickened custard filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and filling and adds tenderness to the crumb.

The step that matters

Stir the filling until thickened. The egg and flour must be heated gently while stirring so the custard thickens smoothly. If it overheats or stops stirring, the egg can scramble or the filling can lump and scorch on the bottom of the pan.

“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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