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 ↓
Lincoln Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the leaven
Take ½ lb. of flour and make a hole in the center.
Add the yeast mixed with warm water to the hole and make a sponge.
Wrap the sponge and place it in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size.
Make the dough
Make a hole in the remaining flour.
Add butter and eggs.
Mix to form a soft sponge.
Knead the sponge twice.
Add another egg if too stiff.
Add the fruit and bake
Cut and stone the raisins.
Mix the raisins with currants, sugar, and saffron-infused water.
Combine this mixture with the sponge.
Add the leaven.
Transfer to a well-buttered tin mold.
Let rise for 1-2 hours.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 to 1¼ hours.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + saffrontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + saffrontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together447 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as gluten develops with kneading.
- Yeast
- Produces gas through fermentation, making the sponge and dough rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure, richness, and moisture to the soft dough.
- Malaga raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy moisture throughout the cake.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning during baking.
The step that matters
Let the sponge rise fully before adding the fruit. The leaven needs to double in a warm spot so the yeast has built enough gas to lighten the dough. Under-proofed sponge yields a dense cake that may not rise well in the mold.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, raisin, sugar, saffron):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, raisin, sugar, saffron. 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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