Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓
Sunshine 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. 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with sugar until well combined.
Sift the cake flour and salt, then fold into the egg mixture.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Bake and ice
Pour the batter into shallow tin pans, filling two pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For the icing, combine maple sugar, cream, and butter in a saucepan.
Boil until it reaches a soft wax consistency in cold water.
Remove from heat and stir until creamy, then spread over the cooled cake.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, colour and moisture to the batter.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Cake flour
- Provides low-protein structure that sets the crumb once baked.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilises the whipped egg whites so they hold their peaks.
- Maple sugar
- Sweetens the icing and helps it set to a creamy texture.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat and moisture to the icing for a smooth, creamy finish.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whipped whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the cake dense and flat.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.