Name: A Two-pound or One-seer Plum Cake
Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened; 2 cups granulated sugar; 2 cups raisins, cleaned and stoned; 2 cups currants, cleaned and stoned; 1 cup Jordan almonds, blanched and sliced; 1 cup preserved ginger, chopped; 1 cup preserved citron, chopped; 1 cup preserved orange peel, chopped; 1 cup preserved lemon peel, chopped; 1 cup pumpkin, chopped; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg; 1 cup dried orange peel, finely pounded; 1 tablespoon English caraway seeds; 1 teaspoon ground mace; 4 cups finely sifted flour; 1 cup soojee (semolina); 40 eggs, separated; ⅓ cup brandy

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 ↓

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 pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ginger + orangetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites lighten its structure.
Butter: Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar: Creams with butter and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
Flour: Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Soojee (semolina): Adds a slightly firm, granular texture to the crumb.
Raisins: Add concentrated sweetness and moisture to the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. The whites were beaten to stiff peaks but the steps do not say when to add them, so the cook must fold them gently to keep the air. Deflating the foam makes the cake dense.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, raisin, almond, ginger, orange, lemon):

Figfits better
Limefits better
Vanillafits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, raisin, almond, ginger, orange, lemon. 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.

A Two-pound or One-seer Plum Cake