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 ↓
Pound Plum-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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Sift in the flour and mix until just combined.
Fold in the grated nutmeg, currants, and candied peels.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + orangetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,746 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb through fat that coats the flour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with the butter for lightness.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure, moisture, and richness, and help bind the batter.
- Currants
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and fruit flavour throughout the cake.
- Candied orange peel
- Adds concentrated citrus aroma and sweet, slightly bitter flavour.
The step that matters
Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating until light and fluffy traps air in the fat, which gives the cake lift and an even crumb. Underbeaten batter bakes dense, while the eggs should be added gradually so the emulsion does not split.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, nutmeg, orange, lemon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, nutmeg, 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.
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