Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cheap Sponge Cake
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
In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs for 10 to 15 minutes until smooth and frothy.
In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda and cream of tartar with the flour.
Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then add the water and lemon extract.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 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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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 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
- Whisked to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's main structure as it sets in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps whisked eggs hold their foam.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and stabilises the whisked egg foam.
The step that matters
Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Over-mixing or deflating the whisked eggs knocks out the air bubbles that give sponge cake its rise, leaving a dense crumb. Folding keeps the foam intact while the flour is evenly distributed.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, cream. 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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