Why it works: Raspberry and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,101 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Mix the raspberry jam and powdered sugar together in a bowl.
Prepare small round tin rings about the size of a half crown and ¼ inch deep, with a wire handle attached.
Place a pewter sheet or plate on a flat surface and set a ring on it.
Fill the ring with the jam mixture and smooth the top with a knife.
Use a pin to carefully pull along the inside of the ring to release the cakes.
Lift the ring off; the cakes should stick to the plate.
Dry and store
Place the cakes in a preheated oven at 300°F (150°C) and let them dry overnight.
Once dried, use a knife to remove the cakes and turn them onto a sieve.
Allow them to dry for another day before storing them in a box.
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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Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,101 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raspberry jam
- Provides the fruit flavour, sweetness and moisture that dries into the firm, chewy cake.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and bulk, helping the jam mixture hold its shape as it dries.
The step that matters
Drying the cakes overnight in the low oven. Low, slow heat drives off moisture gradually so the cakes set firm throughout without browning or softening. Rushing with higher heat can scorch the surface while the centre stays soft.
“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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