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 ↓
Almond 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the chopped almonds, ratafia, and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Fold in the raisins.
Bake
Divide the batter between two greased cake pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,961 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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, giving the cake a light, tender texture and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour into the wet ingredients. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Mixing only until just combined keeps the cake tender rather than tough and dense.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg, almond, raisin):
- Vanillathe original
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, almond, raisin. 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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