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 ↓
Apple Sauce 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).
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the stewed apples and baking soda.
Add the sugar, flour, butter, and spices, mixing until well combined.
Fold in the raisins.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, 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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,920 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Stewed apples
- Add moisture and tenderness to the crumb while lending natural fruit sweetness.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic apples to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while adding tenderness.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Check for doneness with a toothpick. Cakes that are underbaked stay wet and may sink as they cool, while overbaking dries the crumb. A toothpick inserted in the center coming out clean indicates the structure has set.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, 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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