Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fountain Cake
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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and flavoring. Quickly stir in the well-beaten whites of 4 eggs.
Pour the batter into loaf pans.
Bake and finish
Bake until done.
Once baked, cover the cake with frosting made from the reserved 2 egg whites.
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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Flour and egg 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilises the egg whites so they hold their foam and keep the crumb light.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Egg whites
- Trap air and set during baking, giving the cake lift and a tender structure.
The step that matters
Quickly stir in the well-beaten egg whites. Egg whites lose their air when overmixed or left to stand, and baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets moisture. Folding the whites in gently and promptly keeps the air and the rising gas working together, so the cake rises well.
“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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