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 ↓
Raisin 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).
Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar until creamy.
Beat the egg yolks and whole egg together until very light, then add to the butter mixture.
Add the vanilla, then alternately mix in the water and flour a little at a time.
Fold in the raisins and mix briefly.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a cake tin and bake for one hour.
Alternatively, bake in a sheet pan and cut into squares, with or without icing.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together782 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and moisture, and help bind the batter into a stable structure.
- Whole egg
- Adds structure and moisture, helping the cake set as it bakes.
- Pastry flour
- Provides the gluten-light structure that gives the cake a fine, tender texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs until very light. Whipping air into the eggs before adding them gives the batter lift. Under-beaten eggs leave the cake dense, while the flour and baking powder must then be folded in gently so the trapped air is not lost.
“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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