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 ↓
Jelly Pudding
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until smooth.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a long baking tin.
Bake until done, then spread with jelly and roll up.
Serve with boiled 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.
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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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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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).
Flour and milk 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
- Add structure and moisture, and help the batter set and rise as it bakes.
- Flour
- Builds the cake's structure as its starches set during baking.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps keep the sponge tender and moist.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas that makes it rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Supplies the acid that reacts with baking soda to help the batter rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the batter.
The step that matters
Roll up while the sponge is warm. Once baked, the sponge must be spread with jelly and rolled while still warm and flexible. If it cools, the cake loses its flexibility and cracks when rolled.
“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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