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 ↓
Plain Cake
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.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Dry the flour, then rub in the beef dripping or bacon fat until well mixed and free from lumps.
Add the finely shredded lemon peel, salt, brown sugar, and sultanas, ensuring the sultanas are free from stalks and grit.
Mix all ingredients together, then make a hole in the center.
Pour in the yeast and mix with warm water until the mixture has the consistency of moist dough.
Rise and bake
Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place.
Once risen, divide the dough into two portions and place in baking tins.
Bake for 1.5 hours in the preheated oven.
If using baking powder instead of yeast, add it directly to the mixture and bake immediately.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as the main body of the dough.
- Beef dripping or bacon fat
- Adds fat that coats flour particles, tenderising the crumb and keeping it moist.
- Sultanas (raisins)
- Add sweetness, chewiness and moisture to the finished cake.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and deepens the flavour.
- Fresh brewer's yeast
- Produces gas during rising, so the dough becomes light and airy.
The step that matters
Mixing the yeast with warm water. Water that is too hot can kill yeast, while cold water slows it down, so the dough may fail to rise. The dough should be moist but not runny.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, beef, raisin, sugar):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, raisin, sugar. 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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