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 gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, mix the egg yolks with sugar until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour with cream of tartar and baking soda.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add to the yolk mixture.
Fold the flour mixture into the yolk mixture gently.
Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Whites whip into a foam that gives the cake its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps the yolks whip to a light, fluffy texture.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that sets the cake's crumb once baked.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg whites so they hold their peaks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic components to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps dissolve the baking soda into the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whipped whites. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a denser, less risen 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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