Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Imperial Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the flour, baking soda dissolved in hot water, currants, lemon rind, lemon juice, and cinnamon.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto well-buttered parchment paper in a baking pan.
Bake until golden brown.
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.
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and richness.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter for a tender crumb and sweetness, and helps browning.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure, moisture and richness.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic lemon juice to produce gas that helps the cakes rise.
- Currants
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness and moisture throughout the batter.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in hot water before stirring it in. Baking soda needs moisture and an acid to react and release gas; dissolving it first spreads it evenly so the cakes rise uniformly rather than leaving bitter, patchy spots.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, lemon, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, lemon, cinnamon. 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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