Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Cherry Bread
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 mixture
Mix the bread crumbs, powdered sugar, egg yolks, whipped cream, lemon rind, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
Fold in the whipped egg whites gently.
Set the mixture aside.
Layer and bake
Grease a mold with butter.
Sprinkle the mold with brown bread crumbs.
Spread a layer of the mixture at the bottom of the mold.
Add a layer of cherries (stones left in).
Repeat the layering until the mold is filled.
Place the mold on a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.
Serve
Turn out the pudding.
Serve.
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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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Bread + cinnamontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,705 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Whipped whites lighten the mixture and help the pudding set with airy structure.
- Brown bread crumbs
- Absorb the cream and eggs to give the pudding its body and soft structure.
- Whipped cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the pudding rich and tender.
- Morello cherries
- Provide tartness and juiciness that contrast with the sweet custardy layers.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and dissolves easily into the mixture.
The step that matters
Fold in the whipped egg whites gently. Whipped whites hold air that gives the pudding its lightness. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a denser, heavier result.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, egg, cream, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, egg, cream, cinnamon. 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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