Name: Raisin Cake
Ingredients: half cups of flour; one cup of corn starch; one pound of raisins; three small cups of sugar; one small cup of butter; one small cup of sweet milk; eight eggs; two teasx; four cakes

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 ↓

Raisin Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Mix three small cups of sugar, one small cup of butter, one small cup of sweet milk, and the whites of eight eggs.
Add two and a half cups of flour, one cup of corn starch, and two teaspoons of baking powder.
Bake the batter in four cakes.

Assemble

Layer the cakes.
Make an icing and spread it on the top and bottom of each layer.
Seed and chop one pound of raisins and place them between the layers after icing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

895Calories

28 gProtein

26 gFat

136 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 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
Cake	not in our table	0

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

By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 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: Provides the main structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Corn starch: Softens the crumb by diluting the flour's gluten, giving a more tender texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and keep moist.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
Eggs: Add structure and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
Raisins: Add concentrated sweetness, chew and fruity flavour between the layers.

Swap the raisin

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinthe original
Coconutfits about as well
Figfits less well

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