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 ↓
Diet Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine 1 lb of sifted sugar and 4 eggs. Beat together for 1 hour.
Add ½ lb of dried and sifted flour, the juice of ½ lemon, and the grated rind of 1 lemon. Mix well.
Alternatively, boil 1 lb of loaf sugar in 1 pint of water. Whisk with 8 eggs until cold.
Stir in 1 lb of fine flour and keep beating until ready to bake.
Another option: Beat the yolks and whites of 4 eggs separately for ½ hour.
Sift in 1 lb of grated sugar and mix well with the eggs.
Gradually stir in enough flour to achieve a proper thickness and season with cinnamon.
Bake
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).
If using a quick oven at 400°F (200°C), it will bake in 1 hour.
Bake in a quick oven at 400°F (200°C).
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).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Whisked or beaten to trap air, giving the bread lift and a light, airy crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the bread and helps keep the crumb moist and tender.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the bread as its proteins set during baking.
- Lemon
- Juice and rind add acidity and a bright citrus aroma.
The step that matters
Keep beating after adding the flour. Beaten eggs hold the air that gives lift. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten and can make the bread tough, so stir only until combined and bake promptly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, 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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