Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Citron Pound Cake
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 your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Cream the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks to the mixture and mix well.
Gradually add the flour and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.
Layer and bake
Pour a layer of batter into a greased pan and sprinkle thickly with shredded citron.
Repeat layering with batter and citron until the pan is filled.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1½ to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Egg whites beaten to stiff peaks add lift and an airy, light structure to the dense batter.
- Butter
- Creaming softened butter with sugar traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it helps aerate the batter and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the cake its structure once baked.
- Citron
- Shredded citron layered through the batter adds bursts of candied citrus flavor and moisture.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Overmixing or deflating the whipped whites knocks out the air that gives lift, so fold gently until just combined to keep the cake light.
“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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