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 ↓
Angel Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Sift and set aside the sugar and flour.
Whip the egg whites to a foam, add cream of tartar, and whip until very stiff.
Gradually add the sugar and beat until combined.
Add flavoring and mix in, then gently fold in the flour.
Bake
Pour the batter into an angel food cake pan.
Bake in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) until the batter rises to the top of the pan, then increase the heat to brown.
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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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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam, they trap air and provide the cake's light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Added to the whipped whites, it stabilizes the foam and sweetens the cake.
- Pastry flour
- Light, low-protein flour gives the set cake its tender crumb once folded in.
- Cream of tartar
- An acid that stabilizes the whipped egg white foam, helping it hold its volume.
The step that matters
Folding in the flour. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whipped egg whites. Stirring or overmixing deflates the foam, so the cake rises less and turns out dense.
“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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