Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 43,437 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Break the eggs into a large bowl.
Sift the flour and warm it slightly.
Boil the sugar with the water.
Beat the eggs for about five minutes, then pour in the boiling sugar while beating continuously.
Keep the mixture warm and whisk for twenty minutes.
Stop whisking and gradually stir in the sifted flour with a wooden spoon.
Bake and fill
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered and floured cake mold.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C).
Once cooled, hollow out the center of the cake, leaving a 1-inch thick wall.
Soak the cake with brandy or liqueur syrups.
Fill the center with a macedoine of fruits.
Decorate and serve
Fill a piping bag with two-colored Vienna icing and decorate the edge and sides of the cake.
Use a piping bag to decorate the tops of the fruits with whipped cream and serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sugar + creamtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,437 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + brandytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Egg + brandytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,330 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Flour + eggtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together104,138 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + brandytop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour and egg share little aroma chemistry, yet 104,138 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Whisked with hot sugar to trap air, giving the sponge its light structure.
- Flour
- Sets during baking to form the cake's structure and crumb.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the sponge and helps stabilise the whisked egg foam.
- Whipped cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the decorated top.
- Vienna icing
- Adds sweetness and decoration to the edge and sides of the cake.
The step that matters
Gradually folding in the flour. Stirring in the flour gently keeps the air bubbles from the whisked eggs intact; vigorous mixing knocks out air and makes the sponge dense.
“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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