Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Sunshine 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
Sift the sugar and flour separately six times.
Beat the egg yolks until very stiff.
Mix the sugar and flour with the beaten egg yolks and add the orange flavoring.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Bake and cool
Pour the batter into an angel food cake pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Let cool before removing from the pan.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Cream + sugartop 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).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts the cake as it bakes.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and moisture, and help give the batter its tender crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's airy foam together as it sets.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilize the whipped egg foam.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, stabilizing the foam so it holds its peaks.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped egg whites intact. Stirring or deflating them would lose the lift the cake needs to rise and stay light.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, cream, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, cream, sugar. 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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