Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sponge Cake
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.
Make the batter
Break the eggs into a bowl and add the sugar.
Beat the eggs and sugar together for 20 minutes.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder, then mix well.
Flavor with almond extract.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into a bread pan.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Spread with icing after baking.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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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 with sugar, they trap air that gives the cake its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Beaten with the eggs, it helps stabilize the foam and adds sweetness and tenderness.
- Sifted flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the crumb once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become lighter.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs and sugar. Beating for a long time builds the air foam that gives a sponge cake its volume. Under-beating leaves a dense cake, while the foam must be kept intact when the flour is folded in so it does not collapse.
“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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