Why it works: Flour and sugar 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 ↓
Five Minutes Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Beat the eggs well, then add the sugar and beat until combined.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then add to the egg mixture along with the flavoring.
Pour the batter into a well-buttered baking tin.
Bake and serve
Bake for 5 minutes.
Spread with jam, roll up, and sift sugar on top.
Serve with custard sauce.
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 + sugartop 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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and lift, setting the sponge as they cook.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the sponge once heated.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the batter rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sponge and helps trap air when beaten with the eggs.
The step that matters
Pour the batter into a well-buttered baking tin.. Without a well-buttered tin the thin sponge can stick and tear when rolled. Batter that is not well beaten or spread evenly may bake unevenly, so the sponge may be thick in some places and thin in others.
“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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