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 ↓
Nut and 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 the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and the yolks of the eggs, mixing well.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the mixture.
Flour the chopped raisins and walnuts, then fold them into the batter.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + walnuttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and binding, while whipped whites lighten the batter and help it rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and creaming it with sugar traps air.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a soft, tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Walnuts
- Add crunch and a nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft crumb.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the batter. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing, so the cake rises well and stays light.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, raisin):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, 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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