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.
Make the batter
Separate the eggs and beat the whites until stiff.
In another bowl, beat the yolks and gradually add the sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in the flour gently.
Add the cold water and Cook's Friend, mixing until just combined.
Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites until no streaks remain.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Whipped whites and yolks give the sponge its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Beaten with the yolks, it sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, stable crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Cook's friend
- Baking powder blend that releases gas to help the cake rise.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air that gives the sponge its lift. Overmixing or deflating them with rough stirring makes the cake dense, so fold gently until no streaks remain.
“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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