Name: Orange Cake
Ingredients: 3 large eggs; equal weight of butter, sugar, and flour (about ¾ cup each); grated rind of 1 orange; ½ cup orange juice; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 6 ounces icing sugar

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Orange Cake

Ingredients

3 large eggs
equal weight of butter, sugar, and flour (about ¾ cup each)
grated rind of 1 orange
½ cup orange juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces icing sugar

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.

Make the batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.
Add 2 eggs and half of the flour, mixing well.
Stir in the grated orange rind and half of the orange juice.
Add the remaining flour, baking powder, and the third egg, mixing until combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Make the icing

For icing, mix icing sugar with enough orange juice to achieve a thick cream consistency.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender crumb and a rich flavour.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake, helps trap air when creamed, and aids browning.
Flour: Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the oven so the cake rises and becomes light.
Orange juice: Adds moisture and bright citrus flavour to the cake and icing.