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 ↓
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 your oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a baking pan.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until well combined.
Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until smooth.
Melt the butter and add it to the mixture.
Slowly stir in the boiling water and your chosen flavoring.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
While hot, spread jelly over the cake and roll it up.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Beaten with sugar to trap air, giving the cake its light structure.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps stabilise the beaten eggs.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become airy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a softer, richer crumb and flavour.
- Boiling water
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it bakes tender.
The step that matters
Rolling the hot cake. The cake must be rolled while hot, when it is still flexible. Once it cools, the sponge becomes brittle and is likely to crack when rolled.
“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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