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 ↓
Scotch Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Rub the butter and sugar together until a light white cream forms.
Add the eggs two at a time, beating for 5 minutes between each addition.
Add the sifted flour, baking powder, raisins, and lemon extract, and mix until the batter is smooth and consistent.
Bake
Pour the batter into a paper-lined square shallow cake pan.
Bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create the light creamed texture when beaten with butter.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind and lighten the batter as they are beaten in.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs in gradually. Adding eggs slowly while beating keeps the butter-sugar mixture emulsified and holds air in the batter. If the eggs go in too fast, the batter can curdle or deflate, leading to a denser cake.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, raisin, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, raisin, egg. 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.
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