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Dessert

Lemon Sponge, or Moulded Lemon Cream

A chilled lemon custard set into a mould to form a sponge‑like cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Lemon Sponge, or Moulded Lemon Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Infuse half a pint of cream with the very thin rind of one large lemon, or of one and a half smaller lemons; or, instead, rasp the fruit with the sugar to be used.

  2. Add three-quarters of an ounce of fine isinglass, and when dissolved throw in seven ounces of sugar in small lumps.

  3. Do not boil the mixture; keep it near the point of simmering until the sugar and isinglass are entirely dissolved and a full flavour of the lemon rind has been obtained.

  4. Stir in another half-pint of cream, and strain the mixture immediately into a deep bowl or pan.

Set and turn out

  1. When it is quite cold, add gradually the strained juice of one and a half lemons, whisking the preparation well all the time.

  2. When it begins to set, which may be known by its becoming very thick, whisk it lightly to a sponge, pour it into an oiled mould.

  3. To prevent its breaking when it is dished, dip the mould into hot, but not boiling water; loosen the edges carefully, and turn out the cream.

  4. To save time and trouble, the whisking may be omitted, and a plain lemon-cream may take place of the sponge.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

190Calories
7 gProtein
11 gFat
17 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
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
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 Eliza Acton. 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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Isinglass
Sets the cream into a firm jelly as it cools.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the set cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
Lemon rind
Infuses the cream with aromatic lemon flavour.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the cream.

The step that matters

Add the lemon juice only when the mixture is quite cold. Acid added to warm cream can curdle the dairy and weaken the isinglass set, so the mixture should be cold and whisked as the juice goes in.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, 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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