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 ↓
Puff Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the eggs and sweet milk, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the sifted Graham flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar (or baking powder).
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Fold in the raisins.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the cake set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor.
- Graham flour
- Provides the main structure of the cake and a nutty, wholesome flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that activates the baking soda and helps the cake rise.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and caramel-like flavor, and helps browning.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stir only until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which can make the cake tough and dense, and it also knocks out the gas produced by the leavening before the cake sets.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Coconutfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, cream. 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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