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 ↓
Sunshine Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift the flour with the cream tartar and salt six times.
Sift the sugar and put it back in the sieve.
Separate the eggs, beat the yolks to a thick cream, then add the lemon juice and flavoring.
Make the batter
Beat the whites to a stiff froth, then beat in the sugar a little at a time.
Add the yolks to the whites, sift in the flour, and fold in slowly.
Bake and finish
Do not grease the cake tin.
Bake in a moderate oven for forty or forty-five minutes.
When done, invert the tin.
Frosting
Frosting: take one-half cup sugar and one teaspoon lemon or orange extract, and stir until it reaches the consistency of frosting.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 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 whites trap air and set into the cake's light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten framework that holds the cake's structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, helping them whip to a stable foam.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright lemon flavor.
The step that matters
Whipping the whites and folding in the flour. Whites must be beaten to a stiff froth so they can hold air. Folding gently keeps that air in the batter, so the cake rises light instead of collapsing or turning dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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