Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Orange Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat the eggs with a tablespoon of milk.
Sift the flour and gradually add it to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing lightly.
When the batter is stiff, gradually add the milk and beaten eggs.
Stir in the grated rind of the oranges.
Add the baking powder and mix well.
Bake and ice
Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.
Once baked, turn the cake upside down on a wire rack to cool.
For the icing, strain the orange juice and mix with icing sugar until it reaches a double cream consistency.
Spread the icing over the cooled cake using a knife dipped in boiling water.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
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).
Flour and butter 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Unsalted butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light texture when creamed with butter.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as they set.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Oranges
- Rind adds fragrant citrus aroma; juice flavours the icing with acidity and sweetness.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs and milk to the stiff batter. Adding liquid gradually keeps the emulsion from splitting; if added too fast, the batter can curdle and the cake may turn out coarse or dense.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk. 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.