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 ↓
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the eggs until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the powdered sugar to the eggs.
Sift the pastry flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together three times.
Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg and sugar mixture.
Add the cold water and mix until just combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cake cool, then layer with strawberries and whipped cream.
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.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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 into foam to give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Pastry flour
- Forms the cake's structure once set by heat, with lower protein for a tender crumb.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps stabilize the beaten eggs.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilizing the egg foam and supporting the rise with baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Folding preserves the air whipped into the eggs. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, leading to a dense, flat cake instead of a light sponge.
“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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