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 ↓
Orange 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until well combined.
Add the flour, baking powder, and cold water, and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until frothy, then fold them into the batter.
Stir in the juice and grated rind of the oranges, reserving 1 tablespoon of juice.
Bake and frost
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake until golden.
For the frosting, beat the reserved egg whites with sugar and the tablespoon of orange juice until smooth.
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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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 + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + orangetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,821 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Yolks enrich and bind the batter; whipped whites lighten it and help it rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, making the cake rise and become light.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
- Orange juice and rind
- Adds acidity and citrus aroma, and moisture to the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, so fold gently with a spatula until just combined.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg. 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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