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 ↓
Fruit 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 the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter until smooth.
Add the brandy, eggs, and grated nutmeg, mixing well.
Stir in the chopped citron and molasses.
Gradually add the raisins and flour, mixing until combined.
Flour the fruit before adding it to the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1 hour.
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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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).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Butter
- Creamed to trap air and add richness and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the batter and fruit together as it bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep color to the cake.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Flour the fruit before adding it to the batter. Dusting the heavy fruit with flour helps it stay suspended in the batter instead of sinking to the bottom during baking.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, brandy, egg, molasses, raisin, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Clovefits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, brandy, egg, molasses, 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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