Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the eggs for 2 minutes.
Add the sugar and beat for 5 minutes.
Mix in 1 cup of flour with the cream of tartar and beat for 2 minutes.
Add the water or milk with the baking soda and beat for 1 minute.
Incorporate the remaining flour with the salt and beat for 2 minutes.
Bake
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Whipped to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network and sets the crumb as the cake bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the whipped egg foam.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and stabilises the egg foam.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs and sugar. Whipping eggs with sugar traps air in the foam that leavens the batter. Under-beating leaves a dense cake, while over-mixing the flour after it is added can toughen it by developing gluten.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, cream, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, cream, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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