Name: Christmas Cake
Ingredients: ½ cup butter or butter and lard; 1 lb finely-sifted flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 lb currants, well-washed and dried; 1 lb minced mixed candied peel; 1 lb moist sugar; 1 teaspoon mixed spice; water as needed

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Christmas Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the cake

Rub the butter into the flour mixed with baking powder and salt.
Add currants, candied peel, sugar, and mixed spice.
Make a dough with water and place it in a greased cake tin.

Bake

Bake in the preheated oven until done.

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,856 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,077 recipes

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: Rubbed into the flour, it adds richness and a tender crumb to the cake.
Flour: Forms the main structure of the cake once mixed with water and fats.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and lightens.
Currants: Add chewy fruit pieces and moisture throughout the cake.
Moist sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown as it bakes.
Candied peel: Adds concentrated citrus sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.