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 ↓
Sponge Cake
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.
Make the batter
Beat the eggs for 2 minutes.
Add the sugar and beat for 5 minutes.
Stir in the cream of tartar and 2 cups of flour, then beat for 1 minute.
Dissolve the baking soda in the cold water and stir in, adding the lemon zest.
Squeeze in half the lemon juice and add the remaining 2 cups of flour, then beat for 1 minute.
Bake
Pour the batter into deep pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg 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 to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that set the cake's structure as it bakes.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic lemon juice and cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilising the whipped eggs and aiding the rise with baking soda.
- Lemon
- Its zest and juice add aroma and acidity that brightens the flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda and acid. Baking soda must be dissolved fully in the water before it is stirred in, and the acidic ingredients are added in the same batter. Uneven dissolving leaves pockets of soda that bake unevenly and can taste bitter, while the rise depends on the soda reacting with the acids.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, cream. 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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