Name: Lady Cake
Ingredients: 10 eggs; 1 pound flour (about 4 cups); 1 pound sugar (about 2 cups); ¾ pound butter (about 1½ cups); 1 pound blanched and chopped almonds (about 4 cups); ½ pound seeded and chopped raisins (about 2 cups); ½ pound finely shredded citron (about 2 cups); Juice and rind of 1 lemon

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 ↓

Lady Cake

Ingredients

10 eggs
1 pound flour (about 4 cups)
1 pound sugar (about 2 cups)
¾ pound butter (about 1½ cups)
1 pound blanched and chopped almonds (about 4 cups)
½ pound seeded and chopped raisins (about 2 cups)
½ pound finely shredded citron (about 2 cups)
Juice and rind of 1 lemon

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.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and flour.
Add the sugar and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until well combined, then add to the mixture.
Sprinkle the chopped raisins with a little flour, then add them along with the chopped almonds, shredded citron, and lemon juice and rind.
Finally, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold them into the batter.

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.

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,655 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, sugar, butter, almond, raisin):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, sugar, butter, almond, raisin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.