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 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
Beat the eggs slowly until frothy.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat until the mixture is thick and pale.
Sift the flour and gently fold it into the egg mixture.
Add the cream of tartar and salt, folding carefully until just combined.
Pour the batter into an ungreased tube pan and smooth the top.
Bake and cool
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool the cake upside down in the pan before removing.
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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Flour + sugartop 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
- Eggs
- Whipped into foam, they provide the structure and lift that make the cake airy.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, beaten with the eggs, stabilizes the foam and gives a fine, tender crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Sets the structure of the cake once baked, giving it body to hold its shape.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the egg whites, helping the foam hold its volume during mixing and baking.
The step that matters
Folding the flour and batter. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the eggs. Stirring or deflating the foam makes the cake dense and heavy instead of light.
“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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