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 ↓
Raisin 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and spices in a separate bowl.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk.
Fold in the raisins, then gently add the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30–35 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.
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 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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Milk + flourtop 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
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake crumb as its proteins set during baking.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and the whites help the cake rise and stay light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps trap air when creamed with sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of sweetness and chew throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Gently folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold air that makes the cake light. Stirring them vigorously knocks out this air, leading to a dense, flat cake, so they should be folded in gently.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, 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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