Name: Orange Cake
Ingredients: 10 eggs, reserving whites of 3; 1 pound fine granulated sugar; grated peel of 2 lemons; juice of 1 lemon; ½ pound flour; 3 cups sugar; juice of 1 orange; grated rind of 1 orange

Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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 the cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Separate the eggs, reserving the whites of 3 eggs.
In a bowl, mix the 10 egg yolks with 1 pound of sugar, grated lemon peel, and lemon juice.
Gradually add ½ pound of flour to the mixture until well combined.
Bake the batter in layers until golden brown.

Make and assemble the icing

For the icing, beat the reserved egg whites and mix with 3 cups of sugar.
Add the juice of 1 lemon to the icing, reserving some for the top.
In the remaining icing, mix in the orange rind and juice.
Spread the orange icing between the layers and use the reserved icing on top.

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.

Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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).
Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,404 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and flour 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

Eggs: Egg yolks enrich the batter and whites in the icing add lightness and structure.
Flour: Provides structure so the batter sets into a sliceable cake when baked.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps the icing hold a smooth, glossy body.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the cake and icing.