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 ↓
Cream 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.
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Make a well in the center and add the sugar, cream, egg, and salt.
Mix all ingredients quickly until combined.
Flavor with lemon extract and fold in raisins or currants if desired.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so baking soda reacts and helps the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Releases carbon dioxide with the acid in the batter, lifting the cake as it bakes.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Large egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown as it bakes.
The step that matters
Mix all ingredients quickly until combined. Once the liquid meets the flour and the leavening starts working, extra mixing develops gluten and knocks out gas, which can make the cake tough and dense. Mixing just until combined keeps it tender.
Swap the raisin
The recipe marks raisin as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cream, sugar, egg, lemon):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raspberryfits less well
- Blueberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream, sugar, egg, lemon. 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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