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Strawberry Croustades

Fried sponge cake rounds filled with strawberries and topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Strawberry Croustades

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rounds

  1. Cut rounds from the sponge cake.

  2. Dig wells in the centers of the rounds.

  3. Dip the rounds into the beaten egg.

Fry and cool

  1. Drop the rounds into smoking-hot oil and fry until golden.

  2. Drain the fried rounds and let them cool.

Fill and top

  1. Fill the wells with chopped fresh strawberries.

  2. Top with whipped cream.

  3. Dip two large strawberries in egg white, then in granulated sugar, and dry before placing on top.

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

2-day-old sponge cake
Provides the base structure that holds the filling and cream.
Egg
Coats the rounds so they brown evenly and seal the surface while frying.
Fresh strawberries
Add fresh fruit sweetness and acidity to balance the rich cream.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and richness to the top of the crostini.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and a crisp, sugary coating to the decorative strawberries.

The step that matters

Drop the rounds into smoking-hot oil and fry until golden. Oil that is not hot enough lets the cake soak up grease and turn soggy, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the centre is dry. Watching for an even golden colour keeps the crostini crisp and light.

“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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