Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Bread 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the light bread dough, sugar, and softened butter.
Add the eggs, grated nutmeg, raisins, and dissolved baking soda. Mix well.
Gradually stir in the flour until fully incorporated.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Light bread dough
- Provides the bulk and yeasted crumb structure of the cake.
- Eggs
- Add structure and set the crumb as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds richness, tenderness and fat for a moist crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps browning on the surface.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter's acidity to help it rise and lighten.
- Flour
- Adds structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
The step that matters
Gradually stir in the flour until fully incorporated. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Stir just until no dry streaks remain.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, butter, egg, raisin, flour):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, butter, egg, raisin, flour. 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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