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 ↓
Sponge 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the eggs until frothy.
Mix the water and powdered sugar in another bowl.
Sift the cream of tartar into the flour.
Make the batter
Combine the egg mixture with the sugar and water.
Stir in the flour mixture until smooth.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little water and add to the batter.
Flavor with lemon or vanilla.
Bake
Pour into a greased pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes.
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 + 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).
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
- Beaten eggs trap air and provide the cake's main structure as they set.
- Flour
- Its proteins form the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and tenderizes its crumb.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that stabilizes the whipped egg foam and helps it hold its air.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas that makes the cake rise.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour mixture until smooth. Once flour is hydrated, stirring develops gluten, which toughens the cake. Mix only until the batter is combined and smooth, and keep the foam from deflating.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, cream, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, cream, 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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