Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a fairly hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, beat the butter, lard, and sugar until creamy.
Mix in the flour, then add the currants, citron peel, lemon peel, and baking soda.
Beat the mixture well, then add the eggs, beaten until frothy.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a well-greased baking tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 4 hours, allowing the heat to decrease gradually.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness.
- Lard
- Adds fat that keeps the crumb tender and moist.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Baking soda
- Releases gas to help the cake rise and lighten.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the batter cream and brown.
The step that matters
Baking low as the heat falls. The record says the heat should decrease gradually over a long bake. Baking too hot can set the outside before the centre cooks through, leaving a dark crust and a dense or sunken middle, so the long, gently cooling bake matters.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, lemon, sugar, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, lemon, sugar, 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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