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 ↓
Savoy Cake
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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grease your cake mould with clarified butter using a stiff brush.
Dust the greased mould with a handful of fine sifted sugar, shaking out the excess.
Make the batter
In a large basin, break the 12 eggs and whip them over a slow fire for about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and mix in the sugar and lemon zest, continuing to whip until cold, about 15 minutes.
Gently fold in the flour until well combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into the prepared mould, filling it three-quarters full.
Bake in the preheated oven until a knife or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
If there is leftover batter, butter some sponge biscuit moulds, fill them, and dust with sugar before turning them out gently after baking.
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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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).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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 heat to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilise the whipped egg foam.
- Flour
- Provides the set structure that holds the airy foam together after baking.
- Lemon zest
- Adds aroma and bright citrus flavour to the cake.
The step that matters
Whipping the eggs and sugar until cold. The cake's lightness depends on the air held in the egg foam. Folding in the flour gently and before the foam collapses keeps that air, so the cake rises well in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour. 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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