Name: White Mountain Cake
Ingredients: one pound flour; one pound white sugar; half pound butter; one teaspoon soda; two teaspoons cream of tartar mixed; three-quarter pounds flour; quarter pounds brown sugar; one pound butter; one pound raisins; one pound currants; one pint milk; six eggs; one teacup sweet milk; four eggs; one nutmeg

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 ↓

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).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Raisin + curranttop 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

Flour: Builds the structure of the cake as its proteins and starches set during baking.
White sugar: Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb moist and tender.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and enriches the flavor.
Eggs: Provide structure and binding as the proteins set in the oven.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, which makes the cake rise.
Cream of tartar: Acts as the acid that reacts with the soda and adds a slight tang.

The step that matters

Dissolving the soda fully in the sweet milk. Baking soda only produces gas when it meets an acid. If it is not fully dissolved, it will not react evenly with the cream of tartar, leaving pockets of bitter alkali and uneven rising.

Swap the currant

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, cream, raisin, 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.

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
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12

White Mountain Cake