Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Sponge 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until creamy, adding one egg at a time.
Make the batter
Mix in the baking powder.
Gradually add the boiling water and stir until combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 15 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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Sugar + flourtop 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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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Provide structure and richness, and trap air that helps the cake rise.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins and starches set.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and, when beaten with eggs, helps create a light, airy texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise and become light.
- Boiling water
- Adds moisture and helps the batter spread and bake evenly.
The step that matters
Beat the eggs and sugar until creamy. Beating incorporates air into the eggs and sugar, which forms the foam that gives a sponge cake its lift. Adding eggs one at a time keeps the mixture stable so it does not deflate.
“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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