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Dessert

Orange Hearts

A sweet almond cake flavored with orange peel, lemon zest, and rose water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange Hearts

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Pound the almonds finely in a large round pan.

  2. Add the powdered sugar and orange peels, and pound well together.

  3. Mix in the yolks of the eggs, a small quantity of rose water, and the lemon zest until smooth.

  4. Whisk the egg whites until frothy and gently fold them into the mixture.

  5. Sift in the flour and stir gently until just combined.

Bake

  1. Butter heart-shaped tins and place five or six sheets of paper underneath.

  2. Pour the mixture into the tins and bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) until set.

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.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Orange + rosetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together876 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs (yolks)
Add richness and moisture, and help bind the batter as it sets.
Egg whites
Whisked to foam, they trap air that lifts the cake and gives a light crumb.
Sweet almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour, and a moist, tender texture.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves into the batter for a fine, even crumb.
Flour
Gives the cake structure so it holds its shape once set.
Preserved orange peels
Contribute bright citrus aroma and a bitter-sweet flavour.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites are whisked to foam to trap air, which lifts the cake. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the batter and leaves a dense cake.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, almond, flour, lemon, rose):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Orangethe original
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, almond, flour, lemon, rose. 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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