Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the eggs for 3 minutes.
Add the sugar and beat for 5 minutes.
Mix in 1 teacup of flour and the cream of tartar, then beat for another 3 minutes.
Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add it along with the cold water or milk.
Stir in the additional cup of flour and your chosen flavoring until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a deep pan and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Trap air when beaten, giving the cake its light, open structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilize the beaten egg foam.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once it sets in the oven.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg foam and provides acid for the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas that makes the cake rise.
- Cold water or milk
- Adds moisture, keeping the crumb soft and the batter pourable.
The step that matters
Stir in the additional cup of flour and your chosen flavoring until well combined.. The batter depends on the air beaten into the eggs. Stirring only until combined keeps that air in place, while overmixing develops gluten in the flour and can make the cake tough and 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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