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 ↓
Spunge Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Weigh 15 eggs and use their weight in very fine sugar.
Beat the yolks with the flour and the whites separately to a stiff froth.
Mix and bake
Gradually mix the whites and flour with the yolks and sugar.
Beat the mixture for 40 minutes.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour and 10 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.
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 and yolks add richness, giving the cake its structure and lift.
- Very fine sugar
- Sweetens the cake and dissolves easily into the eggs, helping keep the batter smooth and stable.
- Flour
- Provides the starch that sets during baking, giving the sponge its firm crumb.
The step that matters
Beating the whites to a stiff froth. Whites must be beaten until stiff but not dry, because the air they hold is the main source of rise. Under-beaten whites give a dense cake, while over-beaten whites become grainy and collapse when folded in.
“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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