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 ↓
Variety 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg whites and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture, mixing until smooth.
Divide the batter into three equal parts.
Bake the layers
Bake the first part plain.
Bake the second part with chopped citron.
Bake the third part with chopped raisins.
Frost and assemble
Make a soft frosting flavored with lemon.
Layer the cakes with frosting in between and on top, adding grated coconut if desired.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,648 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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 add structure and lift, helping the cake set into a light crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, making the cake rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and hold moisture.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a smooth consistency.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture. Adding flour and liquid in alternating portions keeps the batter smooth and well emulsified. Dumping it all in at once can cause lumps and a denser, uneven crumb.
Swap the coconut
The recipe marks coconut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, milk, egg, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, milk, 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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