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 ↓
Jelly Roll
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Separate the eggs.
Beat the yolks until creamy.
Add the powdered sugar to the yolks and beat together.
Beat the egg whites until very stiff and dry, then fold into the yolk mixture.
Sift the flour into the mixture and stir quickly.
Bake
Line a large shallow pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
Roll and serve
While warm, cut off the edges, spread with jelly, and roll up.
Wrap in a towel and place in a cool place.
Cut with a sharp knife before serving.
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.
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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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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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air, giving the sponge its lift and light, airy texture.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that lets the baked sponge hold its shape when rolled.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the sponge a tender crumb.
- Jelly
- Adds sweetness, moisture and flavor to the filling inside the roll.
The step that matters
Roll the sponge while warm. Warm sponge is flexible, so it rolls without cracking. As it cools, the starches and proteins set and stiffen, making it likely to split when rolled.
“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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