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 ↓
Wine 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the whole egg and egg whites, mixing well.
Stir in the port wine and chopped raisins.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Bake and finish
Divide the batter into three large or four small cake pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool before icing with white boiled icing.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + port winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,499 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the wine and batter acidity to lift the cake as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.
- Port wine
- Adds moisture and a fruity, aromatic flavor to the batter.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour into the wet batter. Overmixing once the flour is added develops gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense. Mix only until the dry ingredients are just combined.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, port wine, egg):
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Vanillafits about as well
- Pearfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, port wine, egg. 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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