Name: Queen Cakes
Ingredients: 2 dozen small tins; Fresh butter for greasing; Spices (to taste); Liquor (to taste); Rose-water or essence of lemon (to taste); 3 egg whites; 24 teaspoons powdered loaf sugar; Cochineal for coloring (optional); Nonpareils or fine sugar-sand for decoration

Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Queen Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Grease the small tins with fresh butter.
In a bowl, mix the batter with spices and liquor gradually.
Add rose-water or essence of lemon and stir well.
Spoon the mixture into the tins, filling them only halfway.
Bake for about 15 minutes until they shrink from the sides.
If burnt, let the cakes cool before scraping off the burnt parts.
For icing, beat 3 egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add 24 teaspoons of powdered sugar and flavor with rose-water or essence of lemon.
Spread icing on each cake and decorate with nonpareils.
Let the iced cakes dry in a warm place, away from direct heat.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Rose + sugartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,584 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + rosetop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,922 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).