Name: Ribbon Cake
Ingredients: half cups sugar; half teaspoon soda; four cups flour; one cup raisins; two tablespoons molas- ses; four eggs; two loaves of the same size; three loaves together

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 ↓

Ribbon Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine two and a half cups sugar, one cup butter, one cup sweet milk, one teaspoon cream of tartar, half teaspoon soda, four cups flour, and four eggs into a mixture.
Reserve a third of the mixture.

Bake the loaves

Bake the remaining mixture in two loaves of the same size.
Add one cup raisins, a fourth pound citron, one cup currants, two tablespoons molasses, and a teaspoon of each kind of spice to the reserved third.
Bake this mixture in a tin the same size as the other loaves.

Assemble and frost

Put the three loaves together with a little icing or currant jelly, placing the fruit loaf in the middle.
Frost the top and sides.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

644Calories

20 gProtein

7 gFat

124 gCarbs

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

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

By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). 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).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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: Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Butter (in the method): Adds fat for tenderness and a richer texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps browning of the crust.
Cream of tartar (in the method): Acidifies the batter so it reacts with soda for lift.
Soda: Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas for rising.