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Dessert

Venetian Sponge Pudding

A steamed pudding made from sponge cakes, raisins, sultanas, ratafias, milk, eggs, and a custard base.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Venetian Sponge Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the basin

  1. Butter a basin and decorate with rows of cut citron peel and split raisins.

  2. Soak the sponge cakes and ratafias in sherry, then layer them in the basin with fruit until nearly full.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks with sugar, then add milk and vanilla essence.

  2. Cook the custard in a jar inside a saucepan of boiling water, stirring constantly until thickened, without boiling.

  3. Pour the custard slowly over the pudding in the basin.

Steam and serve

  1. Cover with buttered paper and steam for 1 hour.

  2. Let it stand for 4 to 5 minutes before turning out.

  3. Serve with wine sauce or a sauce made by beating 3 egg yolks, adding ½ lb ground almonds, 1 tablespoon castor sugar, ½ pint milk, and a little flavoring syrup until thickened.

  4. For variety, use ½ lb grated chocolate dissolved in the milk for the pudding.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Raisin + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together782 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla 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

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard and help bind the pudding as it sets.
Sponge cakes
Soaked sponge forms the body of the pudding, soaking up custard to become soft and tender.
Milk
Provides the liquid base of the custard, giving moisture and a smooth, pourable texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and softens the texture of the pudding.
Sherry
Moistens the sponge and ratafias while adding a sharp, aromatic flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard without boiling. Egg proteins thicken as they heat, but past about 80°C they curdle and turn grainy. Stirring constantly over gently simmering water keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sherry, sugar, vanilla, egg, butter):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sherry, sugar, vanilla, egg, 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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