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 ↓
Sultana 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and bake
In a large bowl, mix the flour, thick cream, butter, Sultana raisins, sugar, chopped citron, eggs, and baking powder until you have a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into a square cake pan.
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Finish
Once cooled, cover the top with transparent icing.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure, moisture and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the crumb tender and rich.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises.
- Thick cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the batter.
The step that matters
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Eggs and flour set as the cake bakes. Underbaking leaves the centre wet and doughy, while overbaking dries the crumb, so checking the centre with a toothpick helps you stop at the right point.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cream, butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Coconutfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream, butter, 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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