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 ↓
Raisin 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the sweet milk and egg whites, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Bake and assemble
Divide the batter into four greased cake pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool, then layer them with icing and chopped raisins in between.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 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
- Egg whites
- Provide structure and lift to the batter as they set during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Corn starch
- Softens the crumb and makes the cake more tender than flour alone.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cakes rise.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness between the layers.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and stirring only until smooth limits gluten development, keeping the crumb tender rather than tough. Overmixing after the flour goes in can make the cake dense.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, corn. 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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