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Dessert

Sandwich Cake

A sweet cake with a raisin and molasses filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Sandwich Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the sweet milk and eggs, mixing well.

  4. Combine the flour and baking powder.

  5. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture.

  6. Take out 4 tablespoons of the dough and set aside.

Make the filling and bake

  1. Mix the reserved dough with molasses, additional flour, chopped raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

  2. Pour the main batter into a greased cake pan.

  3. Layer the filling mixture on top of the batter.

  4. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with the sugar to add tenderness and a rich texture to the crumb.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness to the filling.
Raisins
Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Layering the filling on the batter. The filling is spread over the batter rather than fully mixed in, so it creates a dense layer inside the cake. Spreading it gently keeps the layers distinct and avoids sinking it into the batter, which would change how the cake bakes and sets.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, molasses, 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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