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Dessert

Steamed Sponge Pudding

A steamed sponge pudding made with flour, lard, sugar, egg, baking powder, milk, and golden syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Steamed Sponge Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Rub together the lard, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

  2. Beat the egg and mix it with the dry ingredients.

  3. Add milk as needed to achieve a smooth batter.

Assemble and steam

  1. Grease a basin and pour the Golden Syrup into the bottom.

  2. Pour the batter over the syrup.

  3. Cover with greased paper and steam or boil for 1.5 to 2 hours.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,540 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the sponge together as it sets.
Lard or margarine
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps it moist.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps it set firm and light.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking so the sponge rises and stays airy.
Lyle's golden syrup
Sweetens the pudding and forms a sticky, flavourful layer at the base.

The step that matters

Covering and steaming for the full time. The pudding cooks gently in trapped steam. Lifting the cover or letting the water boil dry or drop too low can leave the sponge uneven or underdone, so keep the basin covered and the water topped up for the whole 1.5 to 2 hours.

“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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