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 ↓
Jelly Roll
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Mix and sift the sugar, flour, and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well and stir them into the dry ingredients.
Add the hot water and beat the batter until smooth.
Pour the batter into a well-greased pan, about ¼ inch deep.
Bake and fill
Bake until done, then turn the cake onto a sheet of brown paper dusted with powdered sugar.
Beat the jelly with a fork and spread it over the cake.
Trim off the crusty edges with a sharp knife.
Roll and cool
Roll the cake up using the paper, being careful not to let it cool before rolling.
To maintain a round shape, wrap the roll in a cloth until cool.
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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg 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
- Beaten eggs add structure and lift to the sponge as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Flour forms the gluten network that gives the sponge its body and lets it roll.
- Sugar
- Sugar adds sweetness and helps keep the cake tender and moist.
- Baking powder
- Baking powder releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and stay light.
- Hot water
- Hot water loosens the batter and adds moisture, helping it spread evenly in the pan.
- Jelly
- Jelly adds sweetness and fruit flavour and moisture inside the rolled cake.
The step that matters
Rolling the cake while it is still warm. Warm sponge is flexible, so it can bend without cracking. Once it cools, the starches and structure set and the cake tears when rolled.
“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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