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 ↓
Date 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk.
In another bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Fold in the chopped dates and raisins.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, helping the cake set as it bakes.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while creaming holds air in the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter and works with baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic ingredients to produce gas that lifts the batter.
The step that matters
Mixing the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mixing until just combined keeps gluten development limited, so the cake stays tender rather than tough and dense.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, raisin, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, raisin, cream. 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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