Why it works: Lemon and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,157 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Shrewsbury Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and grease a baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and lard together.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light.
Make the dough
Add the beaten eggs and sugar to the flour and lard mixture.
Season with mace or nutmeg, lemon zest, and wine or brandy.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little milk or acid and add to the mixture.
Mix until soft enough to roll out.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into shapes with a cake cutter.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.
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 + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the dough once combined with liquids.
- Lard
- Adds fat that makes the dough short and tender rather than chewy.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add richness and structure when beaten light.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in milk or acid to lift and lighten the cake.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release gas for lift. It should be dissolved fully in the milk or acid and mixed evenly through the dough so the cakes rise uniformly instead of leaving dense or bitter spots.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, lemon, wine, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, lemon, wine, milk. 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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