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 ↓
Orange Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the flavouring
Thinly pare the orange and soak the rind in the lemon juice for at least one hour.
Make the cake
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy, then add the egg yolks one by one, beating for ten minutes.
Strain the lemon juice and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the flour and mix thoroughly, then dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of hot water and add it.
Pour the batter into a flat cake pan and bake until done.
Ice the cake
For the icing, mix 1 lb icing sugar with the orange juice and soaked lemon rind until thick and smooth.
Spread the icing over the cake when it is slightly cool.
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.
-
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 yolks
- Add richness and help bind the batter into a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, traps air for lightness.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic lemon juice to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and aroma; the acid activates the baking soda.
The step that matters
Beating the butter, sugar and egg yolks. Beating creamed butter and sugar traps air that gives lift and a light crumb. Adding the yolks one at a time, with thorough beating, keeps the mixture emulsified so it does not curdle or turn heavy.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, butter, lemon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, butter, 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.
More orange cake recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.