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 ↓
Sunshine 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.
Prepare
Sift the flour and sugar together five times, then set aside.
Beat the egg yolks thoroughly.
Wash the beater.
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites until frothy, then add the cream of tartar.
Continue beating until very stiff.
Gently stir in the sugar.
Gently stir in the beaten yolks.
Fold in the flour and any desired flavoring.
Bake
Pour the batter into a tube pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35 to 50 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.
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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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 + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff foam that gives the cake its light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and tenderness to the batter while helping it set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake once it sets in the oven.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, stabilizing their foam so it holds when whipped.
The step that matters
Continue beating until very stiff. Under-whipped whites won't hold enough air to lift the batter, and over-whipped whites turn dry and grainy. Stiff, glossy peaks give the cake its rise, so the foam must be folded gently to keep that air.
“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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