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 ↓
Roll Jelly 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Gently fold in the flour and baking powder until just combined.
Pour the batter onto a greased baking sheet and spread evenly.
Bake and roll
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden.
Remove from the oven and spread jelly over the hot cake.
Roll the cake up while it is still warm.
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 with sugar to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Whipped with the eggs to help hold air and adds sweetness and golden browning.
- Flour
- Provides the set structure that holds the cake together once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Jelly
- Spread over the warm cake to add sweetness and flavour and moisture to the filling.
The step that matters
Rolling while warm. The cake must be rolled while still warm, because warm sponge is flexible; once cool it 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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