Why it works: Coconut and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,093 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
Citron Cake
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
Sift and dry the flour.
Pound and sift the sugar.
Wash the butter and cream it well.
Make the batter
Gradually add the sugar and beat until very light.
Beat the egg yolks until very light and the whites to a stiff froth.
Stir the beaten yolks into the sugar and butter mixture.
Add the flour and egg whites alternately, a handful of flour and a spoonful of egg at a time.
Once all is added and well beaten, stir in the mace and brandy.
Mix in the coconut, almonds, and citron thoroughly.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until thoroughly cooked.
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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Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,093 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites lighten it and help it rise.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a light texture.
- Almonds
- Add richness, moisture and a nutty flavour to the dense batter.
- Citron
- Adds candied fruit flavour and chewy pieces throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the flour and egg whites alternately. Folding in small amounts of flour and whipped whites in turns keeps the batter airy; adding flour all at once or overmixing deflates the whites and toughens the crumb.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg, coconut, almond, rose):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, coconut, almond, rose. 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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