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Six Months' Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

Six Months' Cake

Ingredients

Directions

  1. One and one-half cupfuls of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, one cupful of molasses, one cupful of sweet milk, four eggs, five cupfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of soda, one nutmeg, two cupfuls of raisins, two cupfuls of citron. This makes two long bars.

  2. Mrs. T. R. Morgan,

  3. Binghamton, N. Y.

  4. SNOW CAKE— No. 1. Three-fourths cupful of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, one cupful of milk, one-half cupful of corn starch, two and one-half cupfuls of flour, one and one- half teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Mix flour, corn starch and baking powder together; add to the butter and sugar alternately with the milk; lastly add the whites of seven eggs; flavor to taste. Never fails to be good. Mrs. Wm. Irvine.

  5. SNOW CAKE— No. 2.

  6. One-half teacupful of butter, one cupful of sugar.

  7. THE GOOD CHEER COOK BOOK. 81

  8. one and one-half cupfuls of flour, one-half cupful of sweet milk, whites of four eggs, one teaspoonful of baking powder; flavor with lemon. This is very nice baked in a loaf, cut in two and put together with boiled icing, and freshly grated cocoanut.

  9. Mrs. H. F. Robinson.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

965Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
152 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12

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

By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog]. 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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, milk, flour, corn, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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