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 ↓
Sponge Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately, then combine them.
Add the sugar and stir briskly for a few moments.
Mix in the cream and sifted baking powder with the flour.
Add flavoring to taste and stir lightly.
Bake
Bake in layers until golden.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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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 separately, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the beaten eggs hold their foam while it sets.
- Rich sweet cream
- Adds moisture and fat, giving a softer, more tender crumb.
- Royal baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn spongy.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the cake's structure as it bakes.
The step that matters
Stir lightly after adding the flour and baking powder. Vigorous stirring at this point develops gluten and knocks out the air beaten into the eggs, making the cake tough and dense rather than light.
“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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