Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Sponge Pudding
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Weigh the eggs and measure out equal weights of sugar, butter, and flour.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Sift the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together, then fold into the mixture.
Stir in the lemon extract.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Serve warm with wine sauce.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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
- Provide structure and lift as they set, binding the batter into a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and creaming it with sugar traps air for a light texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps tenderize the crumb when creamed with butter.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the pudding as the batter sets in the oven.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter and works with baking soda to help the pudding rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping the pudding rise.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually and mixing well after each one keeps the creamed butter and sugar emulsified. If the batter curdles, it can turn heavy and less airy after baking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour, 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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