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Dessert

Rice Cake

A baked cake made from rice, milk, eggs, sugar, almonds, raisins, citron, bread crumbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Rice Cake

Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Rice Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the rice

  1. Wash the rice and scald it with boiling water, then drain.

  2. Put the rice into boiling milk and cook until it is thick like mush.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Once cool, add the eggs one at a time, followed by the sugar, chopped almonds, raisins, finely cut citron, and dried bread crumbs.

  2. Butter a mold, pour the mixture into it, and bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Serve cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the cake and thickens into a soft, mushy base.
Milk
Cooks with the rice to create a creamy, moist texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable cake when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a tender crumb and mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and contributes to browning during baking.
Dried bread crumbs
Absorb excess moisture and help give the cake body and structure.

The step that matters

Let the rice cool before adding the eggs. Hot rice would partly cook the eggs unevenly and cause them to scramble, so the mixture may not blend smoothly or bake evenly.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar, almond, bread, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar, almond, bread, butter. 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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