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Dessert

Sunshine Cake

A light, airy cake made with egg whites, yolks, sugar, flour, cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Sunshine Cake

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Sift and measure the flour and sugar, then set aside.

Make the batter

  1. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until very stiff.

  2. Whip the egg whites halfway, then add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until very stiff.

  3. Add flavoring to the egg whites, then gradually beat in the sugar.

  4. Gently fold in the egg yolks, followed by the flour, being careful not to deflate the mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 to a stiff foam, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
Egg yolks
Folded in gently, they add richness, moisture and tenderness to the crumb.
Granulated sugar
Beaten into the whites, it stabilises the foam and adds sweetness and browning.
Flour
Folded in last, it provides the starch that sets the structure as the cake bakes.
Cream of tartar
Added to the whites, it acidifies the foam, helping it whip stiffer and hold its volume.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the yolks and flour. Egg white foam holds air only while it stays intact. Heavy or vigorous folding deflates the mixture, so the cake rises less and bakes up 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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