Name: Fruit Cake
Ingredients: ten cups flour; two pounds of currants; half pound citron; ten eggs; two tea^spoonsful of soda; two pounds o£ stoned raisins

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 ↓

Fruit Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Combine ten cups flour, four cups brown sugar, five cups butter, four cups molasses, two cups cream, ten eggs, and two teaspoons soda.
Mix the butter, molasses, and cream, melt them, then stir in the sugar.
Beat the eggs very lightly.

Mix and bake

Mix in the flour, two pounds stone raisins, two pounds currants, half pound citron, and spice to taste.
Bake in a slow oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

644Calories

20 gProtein

7 gFat

124 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Tea	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 Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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).
Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Tea + raisintop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together64 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + raisintop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,556 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 together as it bakes.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
Butter (in the method): Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavour.
Molasses (in the method): Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark colour with a deep flavour.
Soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Raisins: Add sweetness and moist, chewy pieces throughout the cake.