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 ↓
An Excellent Sponge Cake Pudding
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.
Prepare
Slice the sponge cakes and place them in a well-buttered tart dish.
Add the candied peel on top of the cakes.
Make the custard
Whisk the eggs thoroughly.
Dissolve the sugar in the milk. Bring the milk to a boil.
Stir the hot milk into the eggs. Mix in the lemon rind and let the mixture cool slightly.
Add the brandy while the mixture is still warm.
Pour the mixture over the cakes and let it sit for 1 hour.
Bake and serve
Strain the clarified butter over the top.
Sift powdered sugar thickly on top.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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.
-
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,706 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard and give the pudding its rich, structured body as they cook.
- Sponge cakes
- Form the base that soaks up the custard and holds the pudding's shape.
- Whole milk
- Provides liquid that thins the custard and carries the sugar into the mixture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps it brown lightly on the surface.
- Clarified butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
- Candied peel
- Adds concentrated citrus sweetness and aroma throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Pour the mixture over the cakes and let it sit for 1 hour. The cakes need time to absorb the custard evenly; pouring too soon or skipping the soak leaves dry patches and a loose, uneven set after baking.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, lemon, brandy, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits about as well
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, lemon, brandy, 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.
More sponge cake pudding recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.