Why it works: Cream and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Gold 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.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the baking soda and cream of tartar.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored.
Gradually add the dry mixture to the egg yolks, mixing well.
Bake and frost
Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan and bake until golden.
Once cooled, frost with golden icing.
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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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acid that reacts with baking soda and helps stabilize the beaten egg yolks.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, color and structure as they set during baking.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry mixture to the egg yolks. Adding the dry mixture slowly and mixing well spreads it evenly through the yolks, so the batter stays smooth and avoids pockets of baking soda that can cause uneven rising and bitter spots.
“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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