Name: Little Currant Cakes
Ingredients: one cup butter; one cup sugar; one cup milk; three cups flour; four ounces currants; a cupful of chopped raisins; three eggs beaten separately; one-fourth nutmeg; two teaspoonsful baking powder

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 ↓

Little Currant Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Beat three eggs separately.
Beat one cup butter.
Beat one cup sugar.
Beat one cup milk.
Beat three cups flour.
Beat four ounces currants.
Beat one-fourth nutmeg.
Beat two teaspoonsful baking powder.
Bake in gem pans.
If preferred, use a cupful of chopped raisins.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

907Calories

28 gProtein

27 gFat

137 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12

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 + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the cakes a tender crumb.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown in the oven.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
Eggs: Add structure and binding, helping the batter set when baked.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, making the cakes rise and lighten.
Milk: Adds moisture, so the batter is soft enough to bake through.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, raisin, egg, nutmeg):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Lemonfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, raisin, egg, nutmeg. 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.