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 ↓
Jelly Roll 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).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and spread evenly.
Bake and roll
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven, spread jelly over the cake, and roll it up.
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 + 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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Flour + creamtop 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 with sugar to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that set the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Helps the eggs whip to a stable foam and adds sweetness and browning.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilizing the egg foam and tenderizing the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Overmixing knocks air out of the whipped eggs, causing a dense, flat cake. Folding gently keeps the foam intact so the cake rises and stays 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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