Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Orange Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the eggs and sugar together until smooth.
Sift in the flour and baking powder, then add the grated orange rind. Mix all ingredients well.
Pour the batter into a cake pan and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.
Ice the cake
When cold, ice the cake with French icing made from ½ pound of icing sugar mixed with the juice of the orange.
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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + orangetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,821 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Trap air when beaten and set the structure of the cake as they cook.
- Vienna flour
- Provides the starch and gluten framework that gives the cake its body.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps beaten eggs hold air for a lighter crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the batter rises and becomes light.
- Orange rind
- Adds fragrant citrus aroma and flavour to the batter.
The step that matters
Sift in the flour and baking powder, then mix all ingredients well. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the eggs and sugar. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough, while undermixing leaves pockets of unincorporated flour and leavening.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg. 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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