Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Angel Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Add cream of tartar to the flour.
Sift the mixture five times through a wire sieve.
Sift the icing sugar through a fine sieve.
Grease a cake tin with clarified butter.
Dust the tin with a mixture of caster sugar and flour.
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites until very stiff.
Gently fold the icing sugar, vanilla, and flour into the egg whites until combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
Bake for about 40 minutes without opening the oven door for the first 20 minutes.
Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
If desired, ice with white icing flavored with vanilla.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Vienna flour
- Provides the structure that holds the light cake crumb together.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that traps air and lifts the cake as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilises the whipped egg whites so the foam holds its shape longer.
- Icing sugar
- Sweetens the cake and gives it a fine, tender texture.
- Vanilla extract
- Adds a warm aroma that rounds out the sweetness.
The step that matters
Gently fold the icing sugar, vanilla, and flour into the egg whites. Whipped egg white foam is full of trapped air. Overmixing or stirring vigorously knocks that air out, so the cake rises less and bakes up dense.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter. 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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