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 ↓
Sunshine Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites until stiff and dry.
Gradually add the powdered sugar while continuing to beat.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon colored, then mix in the lemon extract.
Gently cut and fold the flour mixed with cream of tartar into the egg mixture.
Bake
Pour the batter into an angel food cake pan and bake for 50 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that traps air and gives the cake its light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and color, and tenderize the crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides structure as the proteins set during baking.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and dissolves easily into the whites, helping keep the foam stable.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, stabilizing the foam so it holds its volume.
The step that matters
Gently cut and fold the flour into the egg mixture. The batter's rise depends on the air trapped in the whipped egg whites. Vigorous stirring deflates that foam and produces a dense, flat cake, so the flour should be folded in with slow, sweeping motions.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, cream. 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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