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 Jelly Cake
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the sugar, flour, and baking powder.
Add the boiling water and stir until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake and fill
Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let it cool and fill with your chosen filling.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the sponge together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown lightly and keep moist.
- Boiling water
- Adds moisture and helps the starch gelatinize for a tender crumb.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling water. Stir just until combined. Overmixing after the water goes in can develop structure and make the sponge tough, while the baking powder begins releasing gas immediately, so the batter should go into the pan and oven without delay.
“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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