Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sponge Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately.
Combine the milk, flour, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl.
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Gently mix in the floured cherries or berries.
Cook and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Boil for 1 hour.
Serve with sauce.
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.
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Beaten whites trap air, giving the pudding a light, airy structure as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the pudding once heated and set.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during cooking, helping the pudding rise and become spongy.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps bind the batter into a smooth mixture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to a tender crumb and browning.
- Cherries or berries
- Add fruit flavor and moisture, scattered through the batter.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whites. Stirring vigorously deflates the batter, leaving a denser pudding with less lift.
“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.
More sponge pudding recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.