Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cake Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Spread the sliced sponge cake with preserves or jelly.
Make the topping
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Mix the beaten egg whites with sugar.
Assemble and bake
Pour the egg white mixture over the cake.
Place in the oven to warm thoroughly.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sponge cake
- Forms the base layer that soaks up the preserves and holds the topping.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff foam, they create the light, airy topping structure.
- Sugar
- Stabilises the whipped egg whites and adds sweetness to the topping.
- Preserves or jelly
- Adds fruit sweetness and moisture to the sponge cake layer.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be beaten to stiff peaks to trap air and hold their shape. Under-beaten whites collapse and make the topping flat and dense.
“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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