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. 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 the raisins
Cook the raisins and reserve the cooking liquid.
Add water to the liquid if it is less than 1 cup.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Beat in the eggs and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, alternating with the reserved liquid.
Fold in the cooked raisins.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter's acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter to add sweetness and help browning, and to tenderize the crumb.
- Raisins
- Add moisture and chewy sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Alternating the dry ingredients with the reserved liquid. Adding the flour mixture in portions alternated with liquid keeps the batter smooth and emulsified and limits gluten development, so the cake stays tender rather than tough or dense.
“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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