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Dessert

Angel Food

A light, airy cake made from beaten egg whites, powdered sugar, cream whip, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Angel Food

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Beat eggs until stiff.

  2. Fold in powdered sugar, cream whip, and vanilla.

Mould and chill

  1. Line a mould with Delmonico Ice Cream.

  2. Fill the mould with the mixture.

  3. Cover, pack in salt and ice.

  4. Let stand two hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

190Calories
7 gProtein
11 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

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

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 trap air in a foam, giving the dessert its light, airy structure.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps stabilise the whipped egg foam.
Cream whip
Adds fat and moisture, giving a rich, creamy texture when frozen.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and a warm, familiar flavour.

The step that matters

Fold in the powdered sugar, cream whip, and vanilla. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the beaten egg whites. Stirring or beating hard deflates the foam, leaving a dense, less light result.

“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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