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Dessert

Sponge Cake with Lemon Filling

A sponge cake layered with lemon filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kaufman, Nettie M · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Sponge Cake with Lemon Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Whisk 8 eggs with 2 tablespoons boiling water.

  2. Combine 2 cups granulated sugar, 2 cups flour, juice of 1 lemon, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

  3. Beat yolks and sugar until very light.

  4. Add lemon juice and boiling water very gradually.

  5. Sift flour 6 times and mix baking powder through it.

  6. Mix well and add stiffly beaten whites.

Bake

  1. Bake in two layers for 30 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. Beat 2 eggs with % cup sugar, lemon rind, and lemon juice.

  2. Cook in double boiler until thick.

Assemble

  1. When cold, spread between layers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

594Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
112 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
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
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 Kaufman, Nettie M. 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 + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Flour and egg 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 give the cake its airy lift and structure, while yolks add richness.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the sponge together as it sets.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, tender crumb.
Lemon juice
Adds bright acidity and lemon flavor to the batter and filling.

The step that matters

Adding the stiffly beaten whites. Whites hold the air that makes a sponge rise. Mixing them in gently keeps that air; overmixing deflates the batter and yields a dense cake.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, 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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