Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the yolks of 7 eggs with a pinch of salt.
Add 10 ounces of all-purpose flour and mix well for about 10 minutes.
Whip the 14 egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the batter.
Cook and bake
Melt 2 ounces of butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to sputter.
Pour the batter into the saucepan and cook until the edges start to set.
Gently toss the batter to cook evenly, then turn it out onto a greased silver dish.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 12 minutes.
Serve
Sprinkle sugar over the cake before serving.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, and help bind the batter together.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides starch and gluten that set the cake's structure as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown on its surface.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavor and a tender crumb.
The step that matters
Fold the whipped egg whites gently. Stiff egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lightness. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leaving a dense, flat cake.
“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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