Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Tea 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.
Prepare the dough
Roll the light dough to about 1 inch thick.
Stick raisins over the rolled dough.
Mix cinnamon, butter, and sugar.
Spread the mixture in a thin layer over the dough.
Let the dough rise after rolling and placing in pans.
Cover the dough with raisins and the mixture.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until done, like bread.
Cut into squares and serve.
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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Light dough
- Forms the base structure and gives the cake its bread-like crumb when baked.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and moisture throughout the baked cake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness and helps the sugar-cinnamon layer melt and brown.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the topping and caramelizes slightly in the oven for color and flavor.
The step that matters
Let the dough rise after rolling and placing in pans. Yeast-leavened dough needs time to rise so gas bubbles expand and create a light, airy texture; under-proofed dough bakes dense.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Applefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, butter, sugar. 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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