Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a medium oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare two medium-sized cake tins by warming them and thoroughly greasing the insides.
Sprinkle the insides of the tins with finely powdered sugar and shake out any excess.
Warm the flour in front of the fire, turning it occasionally to dry it out.
Make the batter
Boil the sugar and water together until dissolved, then pour the mixture over the whisked egg yolks.
Beat the egg and sugar mixture for 45 minutes.
Gradually stir in the flour, ensuring no lumps remain.
Pour the batter into the prepared tins, filling them halfway.
Bake and cool
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, checking with a skewer for doneness.
Let the cakes cool on a wire rack.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 yolks
- Add richness and moisture, and help build a tender crumb.
- Egg whites
- Trap air to give the cake lift and a light, open structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilise the whisked egg foam.
The step that matters
Beating the egg and sugar mixture. Whisking incorporates air that gives the sponge its rise; under-beating leaves a dense cake, while flour added after the foam is built must be folded gently to avoid knocking out the air.
“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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