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Dessert

Raisin Cake

A moist cake made with butter, sugar, milk, molasses, raisins, spices, eggs, and pastry flour, baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Raisin Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Mix in the milk and molasses.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in warm water and add to the mixture.

  5. Fold in the raisins and spices.

  6. Beat in the eggs, reserving one egg white for the frosting.

  7. Gradually add the pastry flour until well combined.

Bake and frost

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake slowly until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the frosting, beat the reserved egg white and gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar until smooth.

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.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb when creamed with sugar.
Eggs
Provide structure as they set, and add moisture and richness to the batter.
Pastry flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its starches set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of molasses and sour milk to produce gas that lightens the batter.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly acidic sweetness.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the cake, adds moisture, and helps it brown during baking.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in warm water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it mixes evenly; undissolved pockets can leave bitter or soapy spots and uneven rising. Its reaction with the acidic molasses gives the cake its lift.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon. 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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