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Dessert

Jelly Roll

A rolled sponge cake made with butter, flour, milk, sugar, eggs, and jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Jelly Roll

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Separate the eggs.

  2. Beat the yolks until creamy.

  3. Add the sugar and beat together.

  4. Beat the whites until very stiff and dry and add to the yolks.

  5. Sift in the flour and stir quickly.

  6. Paper a large shallow pan.

  7. Bake twenty minutes.

Fill and roll

  1. While still warm, cut off the edges, spread with any kind of jelly and roll up.

  2. Pin a towel around it and put in a cool place.

  3. Cut with a sharp knife.

Make the cookies

  1. Stir the butter into the sugar.

  2. Beat the eggs and add to the sugar.

  3. Add the milk.

  4. Sift the baking powder with one cupful of flour and add to the mixture.

  5. Add enough more flour to make a dough.

  6. Roll out on a well-floured board and cut into shape.

  7. Bake in a quick oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Whites trap air for lightness, while yolks add richness and structure to the sponge.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the sponge and the dough together.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps beaten eggs hold a lighter, creamier texture.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the cookies.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cookies rise and turn tender.
Milk
Adds moisture so the dough comes together and stays soft.

The step that matters

Sift in the flour and stir quickly. The whipped egg whites hold the sponge's air bubbles, which give it lift. Overmixing after the flour goes in deflates them, leaving a dense, flat roll that may crack when rolled.

“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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