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 ↓
Sour Cream 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately until very thorough.
Sift the baking soda and cream of tartar with the flour.
Mix the batter
Mix the flour mixture with the sugar and sour cream.
Combine the egg yolks and then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Beat the mixture very hard until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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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
- Whites trapped with air give the sponge its light, airy structure as it sets.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and fat for a tender crumb, and its acidity reacts with the leaveners.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acid that works with the baking soda to lift the batter and stabilise the foam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately until very thorough, then fold the whites in gently. Whites must be whipped to a stable foam to trap air for lift. Folding gently preserves that air; overmixing or deflating the foam leaves a dense, flat sponge.
“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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