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 ↓
Savoy Cake
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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grease your cake mold with clarified butter using a stiff brush.
Dust the mold with fine sifted sugar, shaking out the excess.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, break the 12 eggs and whisk them over a low heat for about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and add the sifted sugar and lemon zest, whisking until cool (about 15 minutes).
Gently fold in the sifted flour until well combined.
Fill the prepared mold three-quarters full with the batter.
Bake and serve
Bake in the preheated oven until a knife or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
If there is leftover batter, fill sponge biscuit molds, dust with sugar, and turn them out gently when done.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 to foam, they trap air and set the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Sifted sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps the whisked eggs hold their foam.
- Flour
- Provides the light structure that holds the set cake together.
- Lemon zest
- Adds aroma and a bright citrus flavour to the cake.
The step that matters
Whisking the eggs and sugar over low heat. Warming the eggs and sugar gently helps them whisk to a thick, stable foam. Heating too hard can cook the eggs, while skipping the warmth leaves the foam weaker, so the cake rises less and turns out denser.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, 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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