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Dessert

Lemon Jelly Filling

A sweet lemon jelly made from grated rind, juice, sugar, eggs, flour, butter, and water, used as a cake filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓

Lemon Jelly Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grate the yellow from the rind of two lemons and squeeze out the juice.

  2. Mix two cupfuls of sugar with the yolks and whites of two eggs beaten separately.

Make the filling

  1. Add the lemons to the mixture.

  2. Pour a cupful of boiling water into the mixture.

  3. Stir in two tablespoonfuls of sifted flour, rubbed smooth in half a cup of water.

  4. Add a tablespoonful of melted butter.

  5. Cook until it thickens.

Assemble

  1. When cold, spread between the layers of cake.

Uncooked variation

  1. For an uncooked lemon filling, mix grated rind and juice of two lemons with the whites of two eggs beaten with one cup of sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

696Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
112 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
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot 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.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

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 + buttertop 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. Flour + eggtop 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).

Flour and butter 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

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites give body and structure to the filling.
Flour
Starch thickens the filling as it heats and gives it a smooth set.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the sharp lemon flavour.
Lemons
Juice and rind provide acidity and bright lemon aroma.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, softer texture in the filling.

The step that matters

Cook until it thickens.. Flour starch only swells and thickens fully when heated, so stopping early leaves the filling runny. Cooking it through also sets the eggs and makes the filling stable enough to spread between cake layers.

Swap the lemon

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

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

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