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Dessert

Spanish Bun

A sweet cake with orange flavor, baked and iced with a sugar syrup and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Spanish Bun

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Spanish Bun

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the milk and eggs, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar (or baking powder), and orange flavor.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the icing and finish

  1. For the icing, combine 2 cups sugar and 1½ cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

  2. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add the hot sugar syrup while continuing to beat.

  3. Flavor the icing with vanilla and spread it over the cooled cake.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Orange + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to lift the batter as it bakes.
Cream of tartar
Acts with baking soda to produce gas that makes the cake rise.

The step that matters

Adding the hot sugar syrup to the egg whites. The syrup must be hot and added slowly while beating, so it cooks the egg whites into a stable, glossy foam. Pouring it in too fast or too cool can leave the icing loose or grainy.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, butter, flour, egg, cream, vanilla):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, butter, flour, egg, cream, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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