Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Luncheon Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Rub the butter into the flour in a bowl.
Add the currants, caraway seeds, and moist sugar to the mixture. Mix the mixture well.
Beat the eggs. Add the beaten eggs to the mixture along with the candied lemon peel.
Boil the milk. Stir in the baking soda while the milk is boiling. Combine the milk mixture with the other ingredients. Stir the combined mixture well.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.
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 + carawaytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Caraway + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together270 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Coats flour particles to give the cake a tender, crumbly texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crumb brown.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the hot milk mixture to release gas that lifts the batter.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
The step that matters
Stir in the baking soda while the milk is boiling. Baking soda starts reacting right away, so it should be added to the hot milk and mixed in promptly. Delay lets the gas escape before the batter is set, leaving a denser cake.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, caraway, sugar, egg, lemon, milk):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, caraway, sugar, egg, lemon, 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.
More currant cake recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Red Currant Jelly65 recipesThe 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.