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 ↓
Genoese Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, ensuring it does not burn or boil.
Prepare a round tin, 2 inches deep, lined with a sheet of paper that extends 1 inch above the edge, then butter the paper with a brush dipped in the melted butter.
Sift the flour through a wire sieve into a plate.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, break the eggs and add the powdered sugar.
Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and whip the eggs and sugar for 20 minutes, keeping it warm but not hot.
Remove the bowl from the heat and add the melted butter.
Gently fold in the sifted flour with a wooden spoon.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake and serve
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes until pale brown.
To check doneness, press the surface; it should spring back without leaving a mark.
Once baked, turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
When cool, cut into shapes and serve, optionally with jam.
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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Flour + sugartop 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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 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
- Whipped with sugar to trap air, giving the sponge its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the sponge once baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb to the finished cake.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps stabilize the whipped eggs.
The step that matters
Folding in the flour. Gently folding in the sifted flour keeps the air whipped into the eggs. Stirring vigorously would deflate the foam and make the sponge 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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