Skip to main content
Dessert

Russian Sandwich

A layered cake sandwich made with eggs, flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Russian Sandwich

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

  1. Beat the eggs and sugar together until well combined.

  2. Add the melted butter, ensuring it is cool.

  3. Sift in the flour and baking powder, then fold in lightly.

  4. Divide the mixture in half; color one half pink and pour into a cake tin.

  5. Pour the other half into a similar tin.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.

  2. Once cooled, spread chocolate icing on one half, place the other half on top and press lightly between your hands.

Finish

  1. Coat with water icing and decorate as desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Eggs
Provide structure and moisture, and set as the cake bakes.
Flour
Forms the cake's main structure as its proteins set during baking.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when beaten with the eggs.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, making the layers rise and turn light.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Fold in the flour lightly. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which makes the sponge tough and dense. Gentle folding keeps the batter airy so the baking powder can lift the layers evenly.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipesChocolate Drop CookiesChocolate Drop Cookies50 recipes