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Pineapple Sponge

A light sponge cake flavored with pineapple and lemon, served with custard sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Pineapple Sponge

Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Pineapple Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding base

  1. In a bowl, mix sugar, corn starch, and salt.

  2. Combine with cold milk until smooth.

  3. Stir this mixture into the scalded milk and cook for about 10 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Add lemon juice and grated pineapple to the mixture.

  2. Beat the egg whites to a firm froth and gently fold them into the pudding.

  3. Pour into molds or cups, and once cold, turn out and serve with custard sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Milk + pineappletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together885 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Lemon + pineappletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,927 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture as it cooks, giving the pudding its body and sliceable structure.
Egg whites
Whipped to a firm froth and folded in, they add air that lightens the pudding's texture.
Grated pineapple
Adds moisture and fruity acidity that brightens the sweet, mild pudding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps soften the pudding's texture as it sets.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites must be beaten to a firm froth and folded in gently. Vigorous stirring deflates the air bubbles, so the pudding turns dense instead of light and airy.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, sugar, lemon, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, sugar, lemon, egg. 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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