Skip to main content
Dessert

Lenten Orange Cake

A moist orange cake with raisins and nuts, baked at 375°F.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lenten Orange Cake

Oven375 °F
Time1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix sugar, oil and juice at medium speed of mixer or by hand for 10 minutes until well blended.

  2. Add baking powder and soda, blend well.

  3. Mix in flour until blended, add raisins and nuts.

Bake

  1. Preheat oven to 375 °F.

  2. Pour into two greased pans 8 × 8 × 2 in. or 1 oblong 9 × 14 in.

  3. Bake for 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

747Calories
15 gProtein
15 gFat
139 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutsnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + nutstop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together490 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Orange + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

White sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps give it a tender crumb.
Oil
Adds moisture and keeps the cake tender after cooling.
Orange juice
Provides liquid for the batter and adds orange flavour.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to help the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic ingredients to help the cake rise and brown.
All purpose flour
Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.

The step that matters

Mix in the flour until just blended. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Stop as soon as the flour is incorporated, then fold in the raisins and nuts gently.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, raisin, nuts):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, raisin, nuts. 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.

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesOrange GelatinOrange Gelatin100 recipesOrange SherbetOrange Sherbet73 recipes