Name: Buford Cake
Ingredients: one quart flour; half pound raisins; half pound currants; two large loaves

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 ↓

Buford Cake

Ingredients

one quart flour
half pound raisins
half pound currants
two large loaves

Directions

Mrs. Gov. D. H. Cliamberlain, South Carolina, 1788.
One quart flour, a pint sugar, a cup butter, a cup sweet milk, foui;- eggs, spices of all kinds in small quantities, teaspoon saleratus, half pound raisins, half pound currants ; this quantity will make two large loaves.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

517Calories

14 gProtein

2 gFat

111 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 2 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62

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).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,077 recipes