Why it works: Apricot and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 173 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Spanish Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dish
Cut the spongecakes into thin slices lengthwise.
Butter a pie dish thickly and dust with powdered sugar.
Line the inside of the dish with the spongecake slices, pressing them to hold in place.
Layer and bake
Fill the dish with layers of spongecake and apricot jam.
Pour in enough sherry or Marsala to soak the cakes.
Beat the eggs and pour them over the pudding.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 15-20 minutes until set.
Finish and serve
Let cool, then carefully turn out the pudding.
Beat the egg whites to a firm froth and pile on top of the pudding.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and return to the oven to set the egg.
Serve with custard sauce poured around it.
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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Apricot + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together173 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + apricottop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,458 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Penny spongecakes
- Form the soft base and layers that soak up the sherry and jam.
- Eggs
- Set when baked to bind the pudding into a firm custard-like body.
- Apricot jam
- Adds sweetness and fruity flavour between the cake layers.
- Sherry or marsala
- Soaks the cake, adding moisture and a fortified wine aroma.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a firm froth that bakes into a light, browned topping.
The step that matters
Turning out the pudding. The pudding must be fully cooled and set before it is inverted, otherwise the soaked cake and custard can break apart and lose their shape.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, sherry, egg, sauce):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Pineapplefits about as well
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, sherry, egg, sauce. 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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