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 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
Finely shred the mixed candied peel.
Blanch the almonds and chop them finely.
Sift the flour onto a sheet of paper and mix in the peel and almonds.
Make the batter
In a clean bowl, beat the butter until light and creamy.
Add the sugar and beat well.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Carefully mix in the flour mixture, adding a little milk if needed to achieve cake batter consistency.
Bake
Pour the batter into round cake tins lined with greased parchment paper.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 to 2 hours, ensuring the oven is well heated to prevent the currants from sinking.
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 + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Unsalted butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as the eggs and starch cook.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps hold air when beaten with the butter.
- Currants
- Add chewy pieces and fruit sweetness throughout the cake.
- Large eggs
- Bind the batter, add structure and richness, and help it rise and set.
- Mixed candied peel
- Adds citrus aroma and sweet, chewy bits throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Preheating the oven well before baking. If the oven is not well heated, the batter sets slowly, so heavy currants sink to the bottom before the structure firms up.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, orange, lemon, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, orange, lemon, almond. 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 pound cake recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 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.