Name: Fruit Cake
Ingredients: 2 pounds raisins; 1 pound currants; 1 pound citron; 1 pound flour; 4 eggs; ½ cup milk; 1 pound sugar; ¼ pound butter

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 ↓

Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fruit

Seed and stem the raisins, then chop them roughly.
Wash and dry the currants, then combine them with the chopped raisins in a mixing bowl.
Cut the citron into thin slices.
Mix the sliced citron with the sugar.

Make the batter

Rub the butter into the flour.
Stir this mixture into the fruit.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light.
Add the milk to the beaten eggs.
Pour the egg mixture over the fruit mixture, stirring well.

Bake

Pour the cake mixture into a greased bread pan.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 2 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Flour: Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add lift and a tender crumb when beaten.
Butter: Adds richness and a tender texture by coating the flour.
Raisins: Provide sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps keep the cake moist.
Milk: Adds moisture and loosens the batter.

The step that matters

Beat the eggs until light. Beating whisks air into the eggs, and that trapped air helps the cake rise and stay light in texture.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, flour, egg, milk, sugar, butter):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, flour, egg, milk, sugar, butter. 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.