Why it works: Orange and coconut work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. 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. 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 cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until combined.
Stir in the juice and rind of the orange.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Make and spread the icing
For the icing, beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the icing sugar and shredded coconut, mixing until smooth.
Spread the icing over the cooled 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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Orange + coconuttop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together584 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the cake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while creaming with butter.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and turns light.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiffness to give the icing its light, airy body.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites only hold air when fully whipped and free of fat or yolk. Under-whipped or greasy whites make the icing loose and flat, so it will not hold its shape on the cake.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, flour, coconut):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Bananafits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, flour, coconut. 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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