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 ↓
Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
In a bowl, melt the butter and treacle together.
Add the baking soda and stir for about 5 minutes until it ferments like yeast.
Mix in the remaining ingredients until well combined.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for about 3 hours, or until a skewer 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.
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 + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Treacle
- Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, sweet, molasses-like flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the crumb as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic treacle to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Stirring in the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release gas. Stirring it into the melted treacle and butter gives it time to start working, so the cake rises as intended. Stir it in as the recipe directs before adding the remaining ingredients.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, raisin, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, raisin, 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.
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