Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.
Prepare the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the sifted flour and baking powder.
Beat the 5 eggs. Add 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of butter, and 1 cup of milk.
Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until well combined.
Pour the batter into thin layers on baking sheets.
Bake until golden.
Make the custard
For the custard, combine the orange juice, grated rind, and reserved egg yolks in a saucepan.
Sweeten to taste.
Stir over low heat until thick enough to spread.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Beaten eggs bind the batter and give the cake structure as they set.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as its starches set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the thin layers rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while baking.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the orange custard as they cook gently over low heat.
The step that matters
Stirring the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set, but high heat can scramble them. Gentle, constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and thick enough to spread.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, butter, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, butter, milk. 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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