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Dessert

Lemon Cake

A butter and sugar-based cake flavored with lemon juice and rind, baked with eggs and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Lemon Cake

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Lemon Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat one cup butter (packed) with two scant cups sugar.

  2. Beat ten eggs, separating yolks and whites.

  3. Add one small cup milk, lemon juice and rind, one small teaspoon soda, and flour to make a tolerably thin batter (between two and three cups).

Bake

  1. Bake in a quick oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1000Calories
29 gProtein
35 gFat
138 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)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 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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Adds richness and a tender crumb by coating flour and shortening the structure.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the crust brown during baking.
Eggs
Provide structure and binding, with whites trapping air and yolks adding richness.
Flour
Forms the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture and thins the batter to a pourable consistency.
Baking soda
Reacts with the lemon juice acid to produce gas that lifts the batter.

The step that matters

Bake in a quick oven. A hot oven makes the batter rise quickly and set before the leavening gas escapes. A slow oven lets the batter spread and sink, giving a dense, flat cake.

“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.

More lemon cake recipes

Filling 16Almond 5Apple 5with Lemon Jelly 5Raisin 4Italian 3 See all 364 →

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