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 ↓
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.
Make the batter
Beat together the yolks of 4 eggs and 2 cups of powdered sugar.
Gradually stir in 1 cup of sifted flour and the beaten egg whites.
Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder mixed with the flour.
Slowly stir in a scant teacup of boiling water.
Add a pinch of salt and your choice of flavoring.
Do not make the batter any thicker.
Bake
Bake in shallow pans at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, and help the batter emulsify and hold together.
- Egg whites
- Trap air when beaten, giving the sponge its light, airy structure and rise.
- Sifted flour
- Provides the starch that sets during baking, giving the cake its structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise and become porous.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the batter and adds tenderness to the crumb.
The step that matters
Do not make the batter any thicker. A thin batter lets the beaten egg whites and baking powder gas expand freely, producing a light rise. Overly thick batter traps less air-driven lift and yields a dense, heavy sponge.
“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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