Name: Superior Loaf Cake
Ingredients: two cups of butter; three cups of sugar; seven cups of sifted flour; one tablespoonful of powdered cinnamon; one teaspoonful of mace; one teaspoonful of soda; two small cups of milk; four eggs; one teacupful of seeded raisins; one teacupful of well-washed; one teacupful of sliced citron; one teacupful of home-made yeast

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).
Cinnamon + raisintop 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).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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's crumb together as it bakes.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and browned.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
Yeast: Produces gas that makes the dough rise before baking.
Milk: Adds moisture and softens the dough.

The step that matters

Bake slowly in a moderate oven for two hours.. A moderate oven heats the thick batter gradually, so the centre cooks through before the outside over-browns or dries out.

Swap the mace

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

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Clovefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, milk, egg, raisin. 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
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Mace	not in our table	0

Superior Loaf Cake