Name: Appareil De Génoise Aux Raisins
Ingredients: 2 ½ cups sugar; 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour; ⅓ cup potato starch; 1 ¾ cups melted butter; 14 to 15 large eggs; 4 egg whites, beaten; 1 cup Smyrna raisins; ½ lemon, finely chopped; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Appareil De Génoise Aux Raisins

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.

Make the batter

In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar with the eggs until light and fluffy.
Gradually incorporate the flour, potato starch, and melted butter.
Add the salt, beaten egg whites, raisins, and chopped lemon zest.

Bake

Pour the mixture into greased molds or onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden and set.

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

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

Eggs: Whole eggs and beaten whites give the cake its structure and airy lift.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy texture when beaten with eggs.
All-purpose flour: Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Melted butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
Potato starch: Lightens the crumb by partly replacing flour, giving a softer texture.
Smyrna raisins: Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Beating the sugar with the eggs until light and fluffy. Beating sugar and eggs traps air in the batter, which expands in the oven and gives the sponge its lightness. Under-beating leaves a dense cake.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, egg, raisin, lemon):

Arrowrootfits better
Shallotfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, egg, raisin, lemon. 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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Appareil De Génoise Aux Raisins