Name: Little Plum Cakes, to Keep Long
Ingredients: 1 pound all-purpose flour; 6 ounces finely powdered sugar; 6 ounces butter, softened; 3 large eggs; 8 ounces currants, washed and dried

Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓

Little Plum Cakes, to Keep Long

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

1 pound all-purpose flour
6 ounces finely powdered sugar
6 ounces butter, softened
3 large eggs
8 ounces currants, washed and dried

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix the flour and sugar together.
Beat the butter until creamy, then add the beaten eggs.
Stir in the currants, followed by the flour and sugar mixture.
Mix until you have a stiff paste.

Bake

Dredge flour on baking sheets and drop batter the size of a walnut onto them.
Bake until golden brown.

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.

Flour + buttertop 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).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,856 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
Butter: Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the batter cream and hold air.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
Finely powdered sugar: Sweetens the cakes and dissolves easily into the butter and eggs.
Currants: Add fruity sweetness and chewy bites throughout the cakes.

The step that matters

Mix until you have a stiff paste. A stiff batter holds its shape when dropped onto the sheets. If it is too loose, the cakes spread and lose their domed form as they bake.

Swap the currant

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

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

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

Red Currant Jelly65 recipes

Currant Ice Cream32 recipes

Currant Sherbet9 recipes

Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Little Plum Cakes, to Keep Long