Name: Dough Cake
Ingredients: ½ quartern (1.5 pounds) bread dough; ¼ pound (1 stick) butter, softened; ½ pound sugar; ¼ pound sultana raisins; 2 ounces candied peel

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Dough Cake

Ingredients

½ quartern (1.5 pounds) bread dough
¼ pound (1 stick) butter, softened
½ pound sugar
¼ pound sultana raisins
2 ounces candied peel

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

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the dough

In a large bowl, beat the butter into the bread dough until well combined.
Add the sugar, sultana raisins, and candied peel, mixing until evenly distributed.
Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes.

Bake

Transfer the dough into a buttered baking bag.
Bake for 1 hour.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Bread + raisintop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,111 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + raisintop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,630 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread dough: Forms the base of the cake, giving it a bread-like crumb and chew.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, softening the dough and tenderizing its texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps browning in the oven.
Sultana raisins: Add moisture and pockets of sweetness throughout the cake.
Candied peel: Adds concentrated citrus aroma and a sweet, slightly tart flavor.