Why it works: Apricot and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 173 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Sponge Cake Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dish
Cut the sponge cakes into thin slices lengthwise.
Butter a pie dish thickly and dust with sugar.
Line the inside of the dish with the cake slices, pressing them to keep in position.
Make and bake the pudding
Fill the dish with alternate layers of cake and jam, then pour over the sherry.
Beat the egg yolks, add the sugar and milk, and pour over the cakes.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until the custard is set.
Finish and serve
Allow to cool, then carefully turn out onto a hot dish.
Beat the egg whites with a little sugar, pile on top of the pudding, and set in the oven for about 10 minutes without browning.
Serve with a cup of custard poured around.
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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Apricot + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together173 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Apricot + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together826 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sponge cakes
- Form the structure of the pudding and soak up the custard and sherry.
- Eggs
- Set the custard so it holds its shape, and the whites give the topping its light structure.
- Milk
- Makes the custard liquid that sets around the cake when baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the egg whites form a stable topping.
- Apricot jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and moisture between the cake layers.
- Sherry
- Moistens the cake layers and adds a rich, aromatic flavour.
The step that matters
Baking until the custard is just set. Eggs thicken as they heat, and overbaking makes the custard curdle and turn watery or rubbery. Pull the pudding once the centre is set but still tender.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits about as well
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, milk, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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