Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Queen Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift fourteen ounces of the finest flour (two ounces less than a pound).
Prepare a tablespoonful of beaten cinnamon, a teaspoonful of mace, and two beaten nutmegs; mix them together when powdered.
Mix in a tumbler: half a glass of white wine, half a glass of brandy, and half a glass of rose water.
Powder a pound of loaf-sugar, sift it into a deep pan.
Make the batter
Cut up a pound of fresh butter, warm it by the fire, and stir to a cream.
Add gradually the spice and the liquor.
Beat ten eggs very light, stir them into the mixture in turn with the flour.
Stir in twelve drops of essence of lemon, beat the whole very hard.
Butter some little tins; half fill them with the mixture.
Set them into a brisk oven, bake for about a quarter of an hour.
When done, they will shrink from the sides of the tins.
Turn them out, spread on an inverted sieve to cool.
If you have occasion to fill your tins a second time, scrape and wipe them well before they are used again.
Ice and dry
Make an icing flavored with oil of lemon or extract of roses.
Spread two coats of icing on the queen cakes.
Set them to dry in a warm place, not near enough the fire to discolor the icing and cause it to crack.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Beaten in to give the cakes their light, risen structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with the sugar to give the cakes richness and a tender crumb.
- Loaf-sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the butter cream to a light texture.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Nutmegs
- Adds warm spice aroma to the batter.
The step that matters
Beat the eggs very light before folding in the flour. Well-beaten eggs trap air that gives the cakes lift. If the eggs are under-beaten or the batter is overmixed after the flour goes in, the cakes can turn out dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, nutmeg, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, nutmeg, 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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