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 in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the mixture
In a large bowl, mix the bread crumbs, sugar, egg yolks, whipped cream, lemon rind, cinnamon, and salt.
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites and set aside.
Layer and bake
Butter a mold and sprinkle with brown bread crumbs.
Spread a spoonful of the mixture at the bottom, layer with cherries (stones left in), and repeat until the mold is filled.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about 30-40 minutes.
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).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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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 egg whites lighten the mixture and help it rise and set as it bakes.
- Brown bread crumbs
- Form the bulk of the body, soaking up the moisture and giving the pudding its structure.
- Whipped cream
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the bread crumb mixture soft and tender.
- Morello cherries
- Provide tart fruit flavour and moisture that cuts through the sweetness of the sugar.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the mixture brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves a denser 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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