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 ↓
Imperial 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).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat the egg yolks until light, then add to the butter and sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture.
Make the batter
Sift in the flour, reserving a small amount for the fruit.
Mix in the lemon juice and rind.
Combine the chopped almonds, citron, and raisins with the reserved flour, then fold into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1 hour 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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Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites lighten it and help it rise.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it helps trap air and adds sweetness and browning.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Almonds
- Add richness, moisture and a nutty flavour to the crumb.
The step that matters
Folding the beaten egg whites into the batter. Whites hold air only when stiff; overmixing or deflating them while folding makes the cake dense instead of light and airy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, almond, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, almond, 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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