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 ↓
Wedding 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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy.
Make the batter
Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until well combined.
Mix in the egg yolks one at a time, then add the molasses.
Sift together the flour, mace, and cinnamon, then gradually add to the butter mixture.
Fold in the raisins, currants, and citron gently.
Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1.5 to 2 hours, 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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites trap air for lift, while yolks add richness and help bind the batter.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Its proteins set into the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, depth of flavor, and a darker color to the cake.
- Raisins
- Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the dense batter.
- Currants
- Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the dense batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites are full of trapped air that gives lift. Folding gently and only until combined keeps that air from deflating, so the cake rises and stays light rather than dense.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, raisin, currant, molasses, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Clovefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, raisin, currant, molasses, 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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