Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Roly-poly
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs well.
Add sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder; mix until smooth.
Pour the batter into a large shallow square tin.
Bake and roll
Bake until done, then turn out onto a clean cloth.
Spread the bottom with chocolate, jelly, or fruit evenly.
Starting from one end, roll the cake over and over.
Place it on a plate with the seam side down to cool.
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.
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + chocolatetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,994 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 eggs trap air, giving the sponge its light, rolled-up structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the batter hold its airy texture while baking.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that set the sponge so it can hold its shape.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and stay tender.
The step that matters
Rolling the warm cake. The cake must be rolled while still warm and pliable, since it becomes brittle as it cools and can crack. Rolling it in a cloth keeps the spread filling inside the spiral.
“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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