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 ↓
Bermuda Witches, or Individual Jelly Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Add the yolks and beat together.
Mix in the sugar and flour until combined.
Shape and bake
Place the mixture in oval shapes on greased paper in pans.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until light.
Fill and finish
Spread jelly on the underside of each roll and roll them up.
Dust with powdered sugar.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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 whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that traps air, giving the rolls their light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, softening the crumb and adding tenderness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps keep the crumb tender.
- Flour
- Sets during baking to give the rolls their body and structure.
- Jelly
- Adds sweetness and moisture inside the rolled sponge.
The step that matters
Mix in the sugar and flour until combined. Beaten egg whites hold air that makes the batter light. Overmixing at this stage deflates the foam, so the baked rolls turn dense and may crack when rolled.
“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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