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Dessert

Raspberry Buns

Soft buns filled with raspberry jam, made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar, buttermilk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Raspberry Buns

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  3. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.

  4. Add the eggs and buttermilk to form a soft paste.

Shape and bake

  1. Grease a baking tray and drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto it, leaving space between each.

  2. Place a small amount of raspberry jam in the center of each bun and cover it with the mixture.

  3. Bake for 20 minutes.

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure once wetted and set by heat.
Butter
Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the mix to produce gas that helps the buns rise.
Cream of tartar
Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to lift the dough.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity, helping the paste soften and react with the leavener.
Raspberry jam
Adds sweetness, fruity aroma and moisture at the center of each bun.

The step that matters

Covering the jam. The jam must be fully enclosed in the mixture, because exposed jam can burn or leak sugar onto the tray during baking. Keep the amount small so the centre bakes through.

Swap the raspberry

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonfits about as well
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, cream, buttermilk. 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.

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