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 ↓
Strawberry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat together 1 cup of sugar, lemon juice, and egg yolks.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the yolk mixture.
Gradually mix in the baking powder and flour until combined.
Butter a deep, round pan and pour in the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Prepare the topping
While the cake bakes, crush the strawberries and mix with the remaining sugar; set aside.
Whip the cream until light and set aside to cool.
Assemble and serve
Once the cake is baked and cooled, place it in a large pudding dish.
Pour the strawberries over the cake and top with whipped cream before serving.
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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg 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 for lift, while yolks add richness and structure to the batter.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that give the cake its set structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and macerates the strawberries into a syrupy sauce.
- Strawberries
- Add fruity sweetness and juice that soaks into the cake.
- Heavy cream
- Whipped into a light topping that adds fat and creamy texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stiff whites hold the air that lifts the batter. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring hard deflates it and leaves a dense cake.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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