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 ↓
Wedding 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 butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the brandy, sherry, and molasses.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Fold in the currants, Sultana raisins, seeded raisins, and citron.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and smooth the top.
Bake for about 1.5 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Currant + sherrytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender structure.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, sweet flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lift the batter and aid browning.
- Currants
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and mixing only until combined keeps the batter smooth and prevents overmixing, which would develop too much gluten and make the cake tough.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, raisin, egg, brandy, sherry):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits about as well
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, raisin, egg, brandy, sherry. 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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