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 ↓
Webster 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the flour, milk, and baking powder until combined.
Bake in layers
Take half of the batter and mix in the raisins, molasses, and spices.
Pour the fruit mixture into a baking dish and bake until a crust forms.
Once a crust is formed, draw it to the front of the oven and pour the remaining batter on top.
Continue baking until fully cooked.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Creams with sugar to create a tender, rich crumb and added fat for flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the fruit layer.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and a darker color to the fruit layer.
The step that matters
Baking the fruit layer until a crust forms. The fruit layer must set into a firm crust before the remaining batter is added. Pouring too early can make the layers mix, while baking too long can dry the base out.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, flour, milk, molasses):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, flour, milk, molasses. 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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