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 ↓
Loaf Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut up the butter and milk, and warm until the butter is soft; then stir together and set aside to cool.
Beat the eggs.
Make the batter
Mix the beaten eggs with the butter and milk mixture, and stir the whole into the flour.
Add the mixed spice, wine, and brandy, and stir in the powdered sugar gradually.
Pour off the thin part from the top, stir in the yeast, and pour it into the mixture.
Sprinkle in the remainder of the flour.
Flour the raisins and currants, then stir them gradually into the batter.
Rise and bake
Butter a large tin pan, and pour the batter into it.
Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place for five or six hours to rise.
When the batter is light, bake it in a moderate oven.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| 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 |
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.
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 pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
-
Flour + buttertop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, soft crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter together.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the batter.
The step that matters
Letting the batter rise before baking. Yeast needs time in a warm place to produce gas that makes the batter light. Baking before the batter has risen produces a dense loaf, while waiting too long can let the yeast exhaust itself and cause the structure to collapse.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, raisin, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, raisin, milk, 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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