Why it works: Lemon and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,174 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Cake Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Line the bottom and sides of a dish with cake and soak each piece with a little wine.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, combine the yolks of 10 eggs, 1 quart of milk, 1 custard cup of sugar, salt, and lemon.
Cook the mixture over low heat until it thickens like soft custard.
Pour the custard over the lined cake.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and flavor with rose, then spread it on top of the custard.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until browned.
Let cool before serving.
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 + rosetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Wine + rosetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together438 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a soft custard and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff froth that bakes into a light, browned topping.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets around the cake.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps it brown in the oven.
- Cake
- Forms the soaked base layer that soft custard settles into.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken milk as they warm, but high heat can curdle them into lumps. Cooking gently and stirring keeps the custard smooth and thickened before it is poured over the cake.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, egg, milk, sugar, rose):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, egg, milk, sugar, rose. 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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