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 ↓
Scotch 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 the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the grated lemon and brandy.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then fold into the mixture.
Gently fold in the stoned raisins.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as the proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavor, and a little moisture to the batter.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs one at a time. Beating each egg in fully before the next keeps the butter-sugar mixture emulsified. If the eggs are added too quickly, the batter can curdle and trap less air, which can make the cake denser.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, raisin, egg, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, raisin, egg, brandy. 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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