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Dessert

Grape Juice Sponge

A gelatin dessert made with grape juice, sugar, lemon juice, and egg whites, served in glasses with whipped cream and candied violets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Grape Juice Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the grape gelatin

  1. Soften one tablespoon gelatin in one-fourth cup of cold water and dissolve by setting cup containing gelatin in dish of hot water.

  2. Add one cup grape juice, juice of half a lemon, and a generous half cup of sugar.

  3. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then set in ice water to become chilled.

  4. Beat the whites of two eggs until dry, and beat into the chilled gelatin.

  5. Beat with egg beater till mixture will hold its shape.

Assemble and finish

  1. Turn into glasses, lined with lady fingers, or thin narrow slices of sponge cake.

  2. Finish with whipped cream, candied violets and strips of angelica.

  3. Put cream on with star tube.

Make the meringue shells

  1. White of an egg, beaten stiff; scant one-fourth cup of sugar.

  2. Grease paper, draw circle on it.

  3. Drop meringue on paper with tablespoon.

  4. Bake in moderate oven until brown.

  5. When cool, cut tops off, fill with cherries, strawberries or cream.

  6. Put tops on.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

212Calories
13 gProtein
6 gFat
29 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Gelatin1 envelope (7g)23
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 United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

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

  4. Gelatin + grapetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together95 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  5. Gelatin + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the juice into a light, wobbly structure as it chills.
Eggs
Whipped whites add air, giving the chilled mixture a light, foamy texture.
Grape juice
Provides the main flavour and liquid base of the dessert.
Sugar
Sweetens the gelatin and balances the tartness of the juice and lemon.

The step that matters

Beat with egg beater till mixture will hold its shape. Beating must stop once the mixture holds its shape; over-beaten gelatin begins to set and loses its airy texture, while under-beaten gelatin stays too loose to hold its form.

Swap the grape

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, 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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