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 ↓
Water Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a mixing pan.
Add the sugar and water to the yolks and beat until light and thick.
Mix the baking powder into the flour.
Whip the egg whites to a firm froth.
Combine and bake
Stir the flour mixture into the yolk mixture, then gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Bake in small sponge cake molds or spread in a large pan and cut into squares when 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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Egg + flourtop 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).
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
- Whipped whites trap air and yolks add richness, giving the cake its structure and lift.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, beaten with the yolks, helps create a light, thick base.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once it is set by heat.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Water
- Adds moisture to the batter, keeping the cake tender.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that lifts the sponge. Stirring them vigorously knocks out air and leaves a dense, flat cake, so fold slowly with a spatula until just combined.
“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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