Why it works: Orange and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,437 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Boston Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until soft.
Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.
Stir in the orange-flower water, cinnamon, and grated nutmeg.
Add the flour.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little sour milk and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the remaining sour milk, citron, and the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Mix the ingredients lightly and pour into a buttered cake tin.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about one hour.
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 + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,437 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and the whipped whites add lift and structure to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps give a light texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Mixing them too vigorously knocks out that air, so stir in lightly and pour the batter into the tin promptly.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk, 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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