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Dessert

White Sponge Cake

A light cake made with flour, sugar, eggs, butter, milk, baking powder, cream tartar, soda, topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Sterrett, Laura C · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

White Sponge Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat one cup sugar, two eggs, two tablespoons softened butter, and four ounces of milk together until well combined.

  2. Add one cup of flour that has been mixed with one teaspoon cream tartar and half a teaspoon soda; stir until incorporated.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a rather small, square dripping pan.

  2. When the cake is cool, whip a half pint of sweet cream to a stiff froth, sweeten and flavor to taste.

  3. Spread the whipped cream over the cake and serve while warm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

735Calories
20 gProtein
23 gFat
109 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
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 Sterrett, Laura C. 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 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).

Flour and butter 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
Trapped air and set proteins give the cake its structure and lift.
Flour
Forms the network of starch and protein that holds the crumb together.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake, softens the crumb, and helps the surface brown.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes richness.
Cream of tartar
Reacts with soda to release gas, helping the cake rise and keeping the crumb fine.

The step that matters

Stir the flour in only until incorporated. Once the flour is added, overmixing develops too much gluten, which makes the sponge tough and dense instead of light and tender.

“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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