Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Angel Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Prepare a small cake tin lined with buttered paper and lightly sprinkled with castor sugar.
Make the batter
Whisk the egg whites until very stiff.
Gradually stir in the castor sugar and flour mixed with cream of tartar.
Add a few drops of essence of lemon.
Bake
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 30 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 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
- Egg whites
- Whisked until stiff, they trap air and provide the cake's light, airy structure.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilise the whisked egg white foam.
- Flour
- Provides light structure once the cake sets in the oven.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilises the egg white foam so it holds its volume while baking.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites until very stiff. The cake's rise depends almost entirely on air trapped in the egg white foam. Under-whisked whites collapse, while over-whisked whites turn dry and grainy, so the foam must be stiff but still smooth. Folding gently afterwards keeps that air in the batter.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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