Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until well combined.
Add the juice and grated rind of the orange to the mixture.
Sift the flour with the cream of tartar and add it alternately with the egg whites.
Dissolve the baking soda in the tepid water and add it to the batter.
Pour the batter into jelly‑cake tins, filling them half an inch thick.
Bake and ice
Bake until done, then cool.
For icing, mix the grated rind and juice of one orange with sifted sugar and spread between layers and on top.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Egg yolks and whites provide structure and richness, setting the crumb as the cake bakes.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderise the crumb while contributing to browning.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilises the whipped egg whites, helping them hold their volume in the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acid in the batter to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
- Orange juice and rind
- Adds acidity and citrus aroma, moistening the batter and flavouring the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites alternately with the flour. Egg whites hold air that gives the cake its rise. Adding flour in alternating portions and folding gently, rather than stirring hard, keeps that air from collapsing and the crumb light.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, cream, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, cream, 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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