Why it works: Sherry and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry piperonal, which smells bitter, coconut. The science ↓
Spanish Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cakes
Cut the sponge cakes into 3 pieces lengthwise, putting jam between each layer.
Stack the layers on a glass dish and soak them well with sherry or Maraschino.
Top and dry
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth, then add sugar and vanilla.
Completely cover the soaked cakes with the egg mixture.
Place in a cool oven to dry.
Finish and serve
Once dry, garnish with red creams, jellies, ices, or cold sweets.
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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Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together27,347 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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
- Sponge cakes
- Form the soft base layers that soak up the liqueur and support the topping.
- Whites of 5 eggs
- Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the light, airy covering over the cakes.
- Jam
- Adds sweetness and moisture between the cake layers.
- Maraschino or sherry
- Moistens the sponge cakes and adds aroma and flavour.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the egg whites and helps stabilise the foam.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to a stiff froth. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks, because their trapped air gives the topping its light structure. Under-whipped whites collapse and become runny, while over-whipped whites turn grainy and dry.
“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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