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 ↓
Hartford Election 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.
Make the dough
Cream the butter with half the sugar until smooth.
Mix in the flour thoroughly.
Add half the milk, warm but not hot enough to scald the yeast.
Stir in the yeast and beat well.
Add the eggs and the remaining milk, then beat again.
Let the mixture rise overnight.
Rise and bake
In the morning, beat the mixture again and add the rest of the sugar.
Let it stand for 5 to 6 hours or until very light.
Fold in the fruit, pour into pans, and let rise for 45 minutes.
Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).
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.
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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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, lifting the heavy batter so it rises.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the crumb set when baked.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness, chew and concentrated fruit flavor throughout the cake.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps hydrate the flour and feed the yeast.
The step that matters
Warming the milk. Milk that is too hot will kill the yeast, so it should be warm but not hot enough to scald. Yeast needs gentle warmth to become active and produce the gas that raises the dough.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, raisin, egg, flour, sugar, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Jalapenofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, raisin, egg, flour, sugar, milk. 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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