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Sponge Cake Pudding

A custard-soaked sponge cake dessert with jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Sponge Cake Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cake

  1. Slice the sponge cakes lengthwise and spread a little jam between them.

  2. Reassemble the cakes and cut them into three pieces.

  3. Place the pieces close together in a small glass dish.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk and pour it over the beaten egg and sugar.

  2. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir until the custard thickens.

  3. Flavor the custard as desired.

  4. Let the custard cool in a basin.

  5. Pour the custard over the sponge cakes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
Thickens the custard as it cooks and sets it into a soft, sliceable texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and a soft, creamy texture.
Sponge cakes
Provide the light, absorbent base that soaks up the custard.
Jam
Adds sweetness and fruity flavor between the cake layers.

The step that matters

Stir the custard until it thickens. Egg proteins set as the custard heats, but overheating can curdle it. Stir gently and remove it from heat once it coats a spoon.

“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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