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 ↓
Eoll Jelly 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the flour, milk, cream of tartar, and baking soda, mixing until smooth.
Bake and roll
Pour the batter into square tins and bake until golden.
Spread jelly on the warm cake and roll it up.
Let cool before slicing.
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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Sugar + creamtop 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).
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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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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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 with sugar to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the beaten eggs hold their volume.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the batter and helps it mix into a smooth, pourable consistency.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilising the egg foam and helping the cake rise evenly.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping the cake rise and brown.
The step that matters
Rolling the warm cake. The cake must be warm and flexible when rolled; if it cools first, it cracks and cannot be wrapped around the jelly without breaking.
“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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