Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Fruit 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 the batter
Dredge the raisins, currants, and citron in the weighed flour.
Set aside 1 tablespoon of sugar to beat with the egg whites.
Beat the butter and remaining sugar until light and creamy.
Add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in the nutmeg.
Mix in the flour and baking powder until combined.
Beat the egg whites with the reserved tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into the batter.
Add the dredged fruit and mix well.
Bake
Pour the batter into a prepared baking pan and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until done.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Whites whipped with sugar trap air for lift, and yolks enrich the crumb and add structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender, rich texture.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter to make the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps hold air when creamed and whipped into the batter.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pieces of sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks hold the air that lightens the cake. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the batter and yields a denser cake.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, flour, butter, sugar, egg, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, flour, butter, sugar, egg, nutmeg. 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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