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 ↓
Ginger 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix molasses and baking soda.
Add butter and beaten egg, then mix well.
Stir in water and one cup of flour.
Gradually add the remaining flour and mix until smooth.
Fold in the raisins.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,242 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich, moist texture to the cake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavour.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of chewy sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Mixing in the flour. Adding the flour gradually and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter from becoming overworked. Too much mixing develops excess gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, egg, flour, raisin):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, egg, flour, raisin. 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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