Name: Another Sponge Cake
Ingredients: 6 eggs; 2 cups sugar; 2 cups flour; 4 teaspoons cream of tartar; 2 teaspoons baking soda; a little water

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 ↓

Another Sponge Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy.
Gradually add the sugar, mixing well.
Sift the flour and cream of tartar together, then fold into the egg mixture.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little water and stir it in last.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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 to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps the beaten eggs hold their foam.
Flour: Forms the cake's structure once it sets in the oven.
Cream of tartar: Stabilizes the whipped egg foam and works with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the batter.

The step that matters

Stirring in the baking soda last. Baking soda releases gas as soon as it reacts with the acid in the batter. Adding it last and folding gently keeps that gas in the batter rather than losing it before the cake goes into the oven.

“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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Another Sponge Cake