Name: Eggless Cake
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; 3 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup warm water; 2 cups flour; salt

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Eggless Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Add 1 cup sugar, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 cup warm water, a pinch of salt, 2 cups flour, ½ teaspoon vanilla and ½ cup butter.

Bake and finish

Bake in shallow pans.
Cool and mark in squares.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

504Calories

13 gProtein

1 gFat

108 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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

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

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [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.

Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Forms the main structure as its starch sets during baking.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb tender and browned.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, making the cake rise and lighten.
Warm water: Hydrates the flour and provides the moisture the batter needs.
Butter (in the method): Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a richer flavour.

“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.