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 gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and bake the cake
In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, water, baking powder, yolks of 5 eggs, and whites of 3 eggs until smooth.
Pour the batter into a cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.
Make the dressing and finish
For the dressing, beat the whites of 2 eggs until stiff.
Fold in the grated orange rind and orange juice, adding sugar to thicken.
Spread the dressing between the layers of cake and return to the oven for 5 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.
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten structure that holds the cake together.
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and whites add structure and lift to the batter and dressing.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stiffen the dressing when folded in.
- Orange juice
- Adds acidity and orange flavour that moistens the dressing.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be beaten to stiff peaks to trap air that gives the dressing its lift. Under-beaten or greasy whites will deflate when folded in, and the dressing will be runny.
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.
More orange cake recipes
You might also like
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 recipes
Orange Custard56 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.