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 ↓
Wedding 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix in the flour and then fold in the citron, raisins, currants, and almonds.
Stir in the brandy and spices until well combined.
Bake and cool
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for about 1.5 to 2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool before frosting as desired.
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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Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
- Butter
- Adds fat and tenderness, and creaming with sugar traps air for a lighter crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Raisins
- Add moisture, chewiness and concentrated sweetness to the crumb.
- Dried currants
- Add moisture, chewiness and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs in one at a time. Adding eggs gradually lets each one emulsify fully into the creamed butter and sugar. Adding them too fast can cause the batter to curdle, which may affect the final texture.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg, raisin, almond, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, raisin, almond, 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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