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 ↓
Harrison 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter, and molasses.
Add the milk and eggs, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
Fold in the raisins, currants, and citron.
Season with allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and mace.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 45 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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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as the batter sets.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a molasses-like depth of flavor.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a robust sweet flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and mixing gently keeps the batter smooth and limits gluten development, which helps prevent a tough, dense cake.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, milk, egg, flour, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits about as well
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, milk, egg, flour, raisin. 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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