Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
Citron Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Cream the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the sugar and mix well.
Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
Fold in the flour gently until just combined.
Assemble and bake
Cut the citron into long thin pieces and layer them in the cake batter.
Pour the batter into a deep tin lined with parchment paper and buttered.
Bake in the preheated oven until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter to aerate the batter and adds sweetness and browning.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets, plus richness from the yolks.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Green citron
- Adds aromatic, candied-citrus flavour and pieces of fruit throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Fold in the flour gently until just combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Overmixing toughens the crumb, so folding gently and stopping as soon as the flour is incorporated keeps the cake tender.
“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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