Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Orange 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the flour and sugar.
In another bowl, mix the beaten almonds with rose water.
Make the batter
Add the egg yolks and grated orange rind to the almond mixture.
Fold the almond mixture into the flour and sugar mixture.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites, citron, and candied orange peel.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Rose + orangetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together876 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Almonds
- Add moisture, richness and a tender, dense crumb to the cake.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, helping create a tender texture and binding the batter.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in, they trap air that lifts the cake and gives it lightness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when whipped and gently folded; stirring hard or overmixing deflates the foam, leaving the cake dense and flat.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, almond, rose, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, almond, rose, egg. 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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