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Dessert

China Orange Sponge

A light, spongy gelatine dessert made with orange juice and stiffly whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Alexander, Agnes B. (Agnes Baldwin), 1875-1970 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

China Orange Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Soak gelatine in cold water 5 minutes.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water.

  3. Add sugar and strain.

  4. Place in ice water.

  5. When it thickens, beat in the stiffly whipped egg whites.

  6. Beat with a Dover egg beater until light and spongy.

Set and serve

  1. Put lightly into a glass dish, or place in a mold on ice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

189Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
28 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Waternot in our table0

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

By Alexander, Agnes B. (Agnes Baldwin), 1875-1970. 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. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + orangetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid so the mixture holds its light, airy structure.
Egg whites
Whipped into the mixture to create the light, spongy texture.

The step that matters

Beat in the egg whites when the mixture thickens. If the gelatine has not thickened to a syrupy state, the whites will deflate and the sponge will not hold its airy structure. Stiffly whipped whites trap air, so they must be folded in gently while the mixture is cold enough to support them.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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