Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. 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.
Prepare the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the yolks of 5 eggs.
In another bowl, beat the 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Combine the beaten yolks with 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of flour, ½ cup of cold water, the juice and grated rind of 1 orange, and baking powder.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake until golden.
Make the frosting and finish
For the frosting, beat the remaining egg white with the juice and rind of the second orange and 1 cup of powdered sugar until smooth.
Spread the frosting between the layers and on top of the cake.
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 + 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).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + orangetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,821 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Egg whites
- Beaten to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts and lightens the batter.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and structure to the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Oranges
- Supply acidity, aroma and flavour from both juice and grated rind.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites hold air only while stiff; folding gently keeps that air in the batter, so the cake rises light instead of deflating.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour. 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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