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 ↓
Eggless 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
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the sour milk or cream and mix well.
Gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until combined.
Fold in the raisins and spices to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and creams with butter to help create a light, fluffy texture.
- Sour milk or cream
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk's acidity to produce gas that leavens the batter.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until combined. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Mix only until the flour disappears so the batter stays tender.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, 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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