Name: Rock Cakes
Ingredients: 1 teaspoonful ground ginger 1 tablespoonful butter a little milk put flour; 1 tablespoonful butter a little milk put flour; three tablespoonfuls milk; a handful of flour to keep the butter from getting curdled; 1 egg 1 lb- sultana raisins 14 teaspoonful3 baking powder 1 large tablespoon; 1 lb- sultana raisins 14 teaspoonful3 baking powder 1 large tablespoonful suga; 14 teaspoonful3 baking powder 1 large tablespoonful sugar 1 teaspoonful ground; 1 large tablespoonful sugar 1 teaspoonful ground ginger 1 tablespoonful butter; 4 ozs- butter 1 oz; 8 ozs; 3 eggs 6 ozs- sugar beat the butter; 6 ozs- sugar beat the butter; 1 egg; ginger

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).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,242 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Rubbed into flour, it coats flour particles and keeps the cakes short and tender.
Egg: Binds the dough together and adds structure as the cakes set in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas when heated, helping the rock cakes rise and become light.
Sultana raisins: Add sweetness and moisture, and bits of chewy fruit throughout the cake.
Milk: Adds moisture to bring the mixture together into a soft, droppable dough.

The step that matters

Adding the milk. Too much liquid makes the mixture loose and spreading, while too little leaves dry, crumbly cakes. Add milk gradually and judge the texture before adding more.

Swap the ginger

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Capersfits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, flour, egg, raisin, sugar. 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
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

Rock Cakes

Rock Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

Bake

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)