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 ↓
French Loaf 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).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the lemon zest and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and then add them to the mixture.
Stir in the raisins, wine, and grated nutmeg.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the batter.
Gently fold in the flour until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake immediately for about 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks give the cake lift and a light, airy crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, tender crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that sets the crumb once the batter is baked.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the loaf.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air whipped into the egg whites. Stirring hard would deflate the batter and leave a denser loaf.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, raisin, butter, egg, wine, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, raisin, butter, egg, wine, nutmeg. 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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