Name: Delicate and Fruit Cake
Ingredients: two cups of sugar; one half cup of butter; one cup of sweet milk; three cups sifted flour; one teaspoon of cream tar- tar; half teaspoon ful soda; one cup of seeded raisins; one-half cup of currants; one teaspoon cinnamon; four eggs; one half of batter; one grated nutmeg; cinnamon; 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).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Provide structure and binding as the batter sets in the oven.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, contributing tenderness and a moist crumb.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps browning while creaming with the butter.
Flour: Forms the main structure of the cake once baked.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the batter so it reacts with soda for lift and a lighter texture.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that makes the layers rise.

The step that matters

Divide the batter in halves. The batter is split before the fruit is added, so the two portions must be divided evenly to bake layers of matching height. Leavening is already mixed in, so the batter should be divided and baked without long delay.

Swap the currant

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, cream, raisin, cinnamon. 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
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

Delicate and Fruit Cake