Name: Yellow Sponge Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 2 teaspoons vinegar; 2 cups flour; 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder; 8 eggs; 3 tablespoons cold water; Flavoring, to taste

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Yellow Sponge Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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.

Make the batter

Beat the yolks of the eggs with vinegar.
Add the sugar and beat until very light.
Mix in the cold water.
Sift the flour and baking powder together three times, then add to the mixture.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and gently fold them into the batter.

Bake

Pour the batter into a tube pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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.

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.

Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,652 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg 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: Yolks and whipped whites provide structure and lift, setting the cake's airy crumb.
Sugar: Beaten with the yolks, it sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fine texture.
Flour: Provides the starch and gluten framework that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
Vinegar: Adds a small amount of acidity that helps stabilize the beaten yolks.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to a stiff froth trap air that gives the cake its lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring or deflating the batter leads to a dense, flat sponge.

“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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Yellow Sponge Cake