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 ↓
Raisin 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 together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and sweet milk, mixing well.
Gradually stir in the flour, salt, and cream of tartar.
Fold in the raisins.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air for a light crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding to the batter and help it set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic powder that helps stabilize air bubbles and works with leavening for lift.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness distributed through the crumb.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour gently. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Overmixing toughens the cake, so stir just until combined to keep the crumb tender.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Coconutfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream. 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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