Name: Old-fashioned Composition Cake
Ingredients: three-quarters pounds of flour; quarter pound of sugar; half pounds of raisins; a pound of butter; a teaspoonful of soda; four eggs; one-fourth each of cloves

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 ↓

Old-fashioned Composition Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine one and three-quarters pounds of flour, three-quarters of a pound of butter, one and a quarter pounds of sugar, four eggs, a teaspoonful of soda, two of cream of tartar, a pint of milk, a tablespoonful of spices, one-fourth each of cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Add one and a half pounds of raisins or currants.
Mix as you would fruit cake.

Bake

Bake about one hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

753Calories

20 gProtein

19 gFat

126 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Shutt, William E., Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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. See the original page.

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as the batter sets.
Butter: Adds fat that gives the cake a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and stay moist.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Soda: Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Raisins: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.