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Dessert

Orange Layer Cake

A layered cake flavored with orange rind and juice, made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓

Orange Layer Cake

Oven375 degrees
Time20 to 25 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter and sugar.

  2. Beat in eggs one at a time.

  3. Blend in grated orange rind.

  4. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

  5. Add to creamed mixture in 3 portions alternately with orange juice in two portions.

  6. Turn batter into two greased 9-inch layer pans.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake in moderate oven, 375 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes or until done.

  2. Remove from oven.

  3. Let set in pan 10 minutes.

  4. Turn out onto cooling rack or cake plate.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

746Calories
21 gProtein
18 gFat
123 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour 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

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, setting as the cake bakes.
Cake flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's rise, with its soft, fine crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the layers to rise in the oven.
Orange juice
Adds moisture and bright acidity, flavoring the batter.

The step that matters

Alternating flour and orange juice. Adding the dry and liquid ingredients in portions, starting and ending with flour, keeps the batter smooth and prevents overmixing, which would toughen the crumb.

Swap the orange

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour. 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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