Name: Sponge Cake with Milk
Ingredients: 4 eggs, beaten thoroughly; 2 cups granulated sugar; 2 cups flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup boiling milk; Royce's extract (to taste)

Why it works: Flour and milk 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 Cake with Milk

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly.
Add the granulated sugar and mix well.
Sift the baking powder into the flour, then add to the egg mixture and stir until combined.
Gradually add the boiling milk and mix until smooth.
Flavor with Royce's extract to your preference.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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.

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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: Beaten eggs trap air and add structure as the cake sets.
Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crumb stay tender and browned.
Flour: Provides the main structure that sets when the cake bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Boiling milk: Adds moisture and softens the crumb as the starch in the flour cooks.

The step that matters

Gradually add the boiling milk and mix until smooth. Adding hot liquid slowly lets the batter blend evenly and avoids lumps, so the cake bakes with a uniform texture.

“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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Sponge Cake with Milk