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 ↓
Pound 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.
Make the batter
Wash the salt from the butter and rub it until soft like cream.
Add the powdered sugar, flour, and beaten eggs alternately to the butter, continuing to beat until light.
Mix in the grated lemon peel, nutmeg, and brandy.
Bake
Butter the pans and pour in the batter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,311 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and give a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help the batter rise and set when baked.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and adds to its fine, tender texture when beaten with butter.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavour to the batter.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs and flour alternately while beating. Adding the eggs gradually lets the butter and sugar emulsify and hold air. Adding them all at once can curdle the batter, and the cake may bake up heavy and coarse.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, nutmeg, brandy):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, nutmeg, brandy. 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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