Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Angels' Food
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.
Prepare the flour and sugar
Sift the flour four times.
Measure the flour and add the cream of tartar.
Sift the mixture four more times.
Sift the sugar through the flour sieve three times.
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites to a stiff, dry froth.
Gradually add the sugar.
Fold in the flour and vanilla extract gently.
Bake and finish
Do not grease the pan.
Place a paper on the bottom without oiling it.
Bake for 40 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
When done, turn the cake upside down, placing the pan bottom upward, and lay the cake on it.
Frost the bottom of the cake.
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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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 + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the cake its light, airy structure.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that set the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and stabilizes the whipped egg white foam.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, helping them whip to a stable, stiff foam.
- Vanilla extract
- Adds aroma and flavor to the cake.
The step that matters
Fold in the flour and vanilla extract gently. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped egg whites intact. Overmixing deflates the foam, leading to a dense, flat cake instead of a light, tall one.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, cream):
- Raisinfits about as well
- Vanillathe original
- Figfits less well
- Strawberryfits less well
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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