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Dessert

Victoria Sandwiches

A baked sandwich made from a batter of eggs, sugar, butter, flour, and jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Victoria Sandwiches

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the butter until creamy.

  3. Gradually add the flour and pounded sugar, stirring well.

  4. Whisk the eggs separately, then add them to the mixture.

  5. Beat the mixture for about 10 minutes.

  6. Butter a Yorkshire pudding tin and pour in the batter.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake for 20 minutes.

  2. Let it cool, then spread one half with jam or marmalade.

  3. Place the other half on top, press together, and cut into finger pieces.

  4. Arrange the pieces in cross-bars on a glass dish and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Add structure and moisture, and help the sponge rise when whisked in.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb when beaten until creamy.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the sponge together after baking.
Pounded sugar
Sweetens the sponge and helps give it a fine, tender texture.
Jam or marmalade
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour to the filling between the two halves.

The step that matters

Beating the mixture for about 10 minutes. Beating traps air in the batter, which expands in the oven and lifts the sponge. Under-beaten batter bakes dense and flat, while the eggs must be fully combined first for an even texture.

“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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