Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Rolled Jelly Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg yolks until light.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Stir in the water and salt.
Gradually add the flour mixed with baking powder.
Pour the batter into well-greased shallow biscuit tins.
Bake and roll
Bake until golden.
Turn the cake out onto a damp towel on a breadboard.
Spread jelly over the top and roll up while warm.
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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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).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Yolks are beaten to aerate and lighten the batter, giving the sponge its structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the sponge as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the sponge rise and stay light.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the sponge and helps it brown while keeping it tender.
- Jelly
- Adds sweetness and moisture to the filling inside the rolled sponge.
The step that matters
Rolling the cake while warm. A warm sponge is soft and flexible, so it can be rolled without cracking. Once it cools, it stiffens and tears. The damp towel keeps the surface moist so it does not stick.
“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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