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Dessert

Orange Filling for Cake

A citrusy filling made from milk, cornstarch, egg yolks, sugar, orange rind, and juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Orange Filling for Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a double boiler, heat the milk until scalded.

  2. In a small bowl, moisten the cornstarch with a little cold water.

  3. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light.

Make the custard

  1. Add the moistened cornstarch to the scalded milk, stirring constantly until smooth and thick.

  2. Add the egg mixture to the cornstarch mixture and remove from heat.

Finish

  1. Once cool, stir in the grated orange rind and orange juice.

  2. Add vanilla extract if desired.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Orange + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens and the yolks enrich.
Cornstarch
Thickens the filling as its starch grains swell and gel in hot liquid.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the filling, adding richness and a smooth, custard-like body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the set of the filling.
Orange juice
Adds bright acidity and citrus flavour.
Orange rind
Contributes concentrated citrus aroma from the oils in the peel.

The step that matters

Adding the egg mixture to the cornstarch mixture. Egg yolks scramble when they meet very hot liquid. Stirring steadily and removing the pan from heat as the eggs go in keeps the custard smooth rather than grainy.

“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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