Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Jelly Roll
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the eggs until light.
Gradually add the sugar, then mix in the milk.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to the egg mixture.
Stir in the melted butter.
Line a baking pan with paper, butter the paper and sides.
Spread the mixture evenly in the pan.
Bake and roll
Bake for 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven and turn onto a paper sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Quickly remove the paper and trim the edges of the cake.
Spread with jelly or jam that is easy to spread, then roll the cake up.
Wrap the rolled cake in paper to help it keep its shape.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Beaten eggs trap air that gives the sponge its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten framework that sets the cake's structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the batter hold air while beating.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and stays tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that loosens the batter and helps it bake evenly.
The step that matters
Quickly remove the paper and trim the edges of the cake. The warm sponge is flexible only briefly; if it cools before rolling, it cracks. Rolling while still warm, with the paper, helps it keep its shape.
“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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