Name: Spiced Oatmeal Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup cooked oatmeal; ¼ teaspoon baking powder; ¼ cup sugar; 1½ teaspoons cinnamon; ¼ cup raisins; 3 tablespoons fat; ¼ cup molasses

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 ↓

Spiced Oatmeal Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Heat the molasses and fat in a saucepan until boiling.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cooked oatmeal, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and the heated molasses and fat.
Spoon the mixture into muffin pans.

Bake

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 cakes together as they bake.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses acidity to help the cakes rise and lighten.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking to give the cakes additional lift.
Cooked oatmeal: Adds moisture and a tender, hearty texture to the cakes.
Molasses: Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness that also reacts with the baking soda.
Fat: Adds richness and tenderness, and softens the crumb.

“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.