Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Pound Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the wine juice, grated lemon rind, and baking soda dissolved in the lemon juice.
Gradually fold in the flour and nutmeg until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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 + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the cake rich and tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with butter.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in lemon juice to release gas and help the cake rise.
The step that matters
Folding in the flour. Once flour is added, overmixing develops gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense. Fold gently and stop as soon as the flour is just combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, wine, nutmeg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, wine, nutmeg. 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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