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 ↓
Plain Plum Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
In a basin, combine the flour and yeast powder.
Using your fingers, rub in the butter until well mixed.
Wash and dry the raisins, stone them, and chop the candied peel.
Add the raisins and candied peel to the flour mixture.
Mix the condensed milk with the water and combine it with the cake mixture using a wooden spoon.
Bake and cool
Pour the batter into a greased cake tin.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 hour.
To check if done, insert a skewer; it should come out clean.
Turn the cake out onto a sieve and let it cool in the kitchen.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + condensed milktop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together410 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + raisintop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,630 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Butter + condensed milktop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together711 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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 main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Yeast powder
- Acts as a raising agent, producing gas that lightens the crumb.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender texture.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy pockets of moisture throughout the cake.
- Candied peel
- Adds concentrated citrus sweetness and aroma.
- Condensed milk
- Adds sweetness and helps browning and a soft crumb.
The step that matters
Checking doneness with a skewer. The cake looks set on top before the centre is fully baked. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean, since wet batter means the structure has not yet set.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, condensed milk):
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Bananafits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, condensed milk. 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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