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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the sour milk and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, raisins, and cinnamon.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Divide the batter into two greased cake pans.
Bake
Bake for 25-30 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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and richness.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, helps give a light texture.
The step that matters
Combining the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stirring only until just combined keeps gluten development low, so the cake stays tender instead of tough. Overmixing after the flour goes in makes the crumb 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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