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 ↓
Fruit 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
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the molasses and brandy.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little hot water and add it to the mixture.
Gradually mix in the flour and spices.
Fold in the dried and floured fruit: citron, currants, and raisins.
Reserve some of the batter without fruit to cover the top of the cake.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and spread the reserved batter on top.
Bake for about 1.5 to 2 hours 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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Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Currant + raisintop 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, binding the batter as the cake sets.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, creamed texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses and helps the cake rise and brown.
- Raisins
- Add moisture, sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Baking time and doneness check. A dense fruit cake with a lot of fruit and liquid needs a long, low bake to set in the center. Testing with a toothpick ensures the middle is cooked before the outside over-browns.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, molasses, brandy, egg, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
- Applefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, molasses, brandy, egg, 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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