Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Orange Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add cold water, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and the juice and grated rind of the orange. Mix well.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Bake and frost
Divide the batter into three layers and bake for 25-30 minutes.
For the frosting, beat the egg whites with the juice and grated rind of the orange, then gradually add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
Frost the cooled cake layers with the orange frosting.
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.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Yolks enrich and tenderize the crumb, while whipped whites add air that lifts the cake.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's rise once baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a soft, tender texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg whites so they hold their stiff peaks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic orange juice to help the cake rise.
- Orange juice and rind
- Adds bright acidity and citrus aroma, and moisture from the juice.
The step that matters
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the cake light. Stirring or deflating them too vigorously knocks out that air, leaving a dense, flat layer.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, cream. 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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