Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
English War 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.
Make the batter
Boil hot water, raisins, lard, brown sugar, and spices together for three minutes.
Cool the mixture.
Add baking soda and sifted flour with baking powder to the cooled mixture and mix well.
Bake
Pour into a round pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and moisture, plumping as they simmer in the boiled mixture.
- Lard
- Adds fat, giving the cake a tender, moist crumb.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, along with a molasses-like depth of flavour.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides structure as the batter sets during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic, sugary mixture to help the cake rise and brown.
- Baking powder
- Provides additional lift so the cake rises in the oven.
The step that matters
Cool the mixture before adding the leavening. Baking soda and baking powder start producing gas as soon as they meet liquid and heat. Adding them to a hot mixture can make them react too quickly, so the cake may rise unevenly or lose lift in the oven.
“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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