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Dessert

Russian Sandwich

A layered cake made with two cakes, chocolate icing, and water icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Russian Sandwich

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until well combined.

  3. Melt the butter and set aside.

  4. Sift the flour and baking powder together.

  5. Gently stir the melted butter into the egg and sugar mixture, then add the sifted flour and baking powder.

Bake and assemble

  1. Pour half of the mixture into a flat baking tin.

  2. Color the remaining mixture pink and pour it into another flat baking tin of the same size.

  3. Bake both tins in the preheated oven until cooked through, then let them cool.

  4. Spread chocolate Vienna icing on one layer, place the other layer on top, and cover with water icing.

  5. Cut into blocks to serve.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Whisked with sugar to trap air, giving the sponge its light, airy structure.
Flour
Provides the starch and gluten that set the sponge's structure as it bakes.
Fine sugar
Sweetens the cake and, whisked with eggs, helps stabilize the foam.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb to the sponge.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the sponge rises and becomes lighter.

The step that matters

Gently stir the melted butter into the egg and sugar mixture. Folding gently keeps the air whisked into the eggs intact; vigorous stirring knocks out air and can leave the sponge dense and flat.

“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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