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Dessert

Orange Cream for Layer Cake

A citrus custard used as filling between cake layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange Cream for Layer Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the orange cream

  1. In a coffee cup, combine the grated rind of 1 orange and the juice of 2 oranges with lemon juice and enough water to fill the cup.

  2. Strain the mixture and bring it to a boil.

  3. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in cold water, then add it to the boiling mixture and stir until thick.

  4. Cook over hot water for 10 minutes.

  5. Beat 2 egg yolks with 4 tablespoons of sugar, then stir into the mixture and cook for 1 minute.

  6. Remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons of butter.

Finish and fill

  1. Allow to cool, then spread between the layers of your cake.

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Orange + coffeetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together326 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the orange juice mixture into a thick, spreadable cream as it heats.
Egg yolks
Add richness and body, and help set the cream as it cooks.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the sharp citrus acidity.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stirring in the cornstarch until thick. Cornstarch must be dissolved in cold water first and added to the boiling liquid while stirring, or it clumps. It thickens only once it reaches a boil, so the cream sets as it cools.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, coffee, egg, sugar, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangethe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Raspberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, coffee, egg, sugar, butter. 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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