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Dessert

Classic Lemon Cake

A moist cake made with eggs, butter, sugar, self‑rising flour, lemon juice, and topped with a boiled icing sugar glaze.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 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 ↓

Classic Lemon Cake

Oven400°F
Time50 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream sugar and butter together.

  2. Add the beaten eggs and sifted flour.

  3. Spoon into an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 square or round pan.

Bake and glaze

  1. Bake at 400°F for 50 minutes.

  2. Bring lemon juice and icing sugar to a boil.

  3. Pour the hot lemon mixture over the cake when you remove the cake from the oven.

  4. Cool in pan.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

696Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
112 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

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 + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

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

  5. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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
Creams with sugar to trap air and adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and moisture, and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
Self rising flour
Forms the cake's structure, and its built-in leavening helps it rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps give a light texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright lemon flavour that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Pour the hot lemon mixture over the cake when you remove the cake from the oven.. Pouring the hot syrup onto a freshly baked cake lets it soak in while the crumb is still open and porous. Pouring it later, or onto a cooled cake, leaves the glaze sitting on top instead of absorbing into the cake.

Swap the lemon

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

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

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