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 says “a hot oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately until fluffy.
Combine the powdered sugar, flour, and baking powder in a bowl.
Stir in the boiling water until smooth.
Bake
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour the batter into shallow tins.
Bake until done.
Finish
Frost and cut into squares.
Top each square with a piece of English walnut.
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 whites trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure, while yolks add richness.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps give it a fine, tender crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its set structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises in the oven.
- Boiling water
- Adds moisture and helps the batter become smooth and loose.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. The whites hold air bubbles that make the cake light. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a dense, flat cake.
“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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