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 ↓
Improved Sunshine 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.
Prepare
Sift and measure the flour and sugar, then set aside.
Beat the egg yolks thoroughly.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until slightly foamy, then add the cream of tartar and continue beating until very stiff.
Gently stir in the sugar, then fold in the beaten yolks, followed by the flour.
Bake
Pour the batter into a tube pan and bake immediately in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 35 to 50 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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Egg + flourtop 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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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
- Egg whites
- Beaten until stiff, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, and help the batter set into a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the protein structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps keep the whipped foam stable.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg whites so they hold their volume longer.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until very stiff. Under-beaten whites collapse when folded, and over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy. Stiff, glossy peaks trap the air that makes this sponge rise, so they must be firm but not dry before folding in the yolks and flour gently.
“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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