Why it works: Milk and coffee are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,202 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Bake and cool
Bake two sponge cakes and let them cool.
Make the coffee filling
In a saucepan, combine milk, egg, sugar, and flour.
Boil the mixture until it thickens, stirring constantly.
Flavor the mixture with strong coffee.
Assemble and frost
Spread the coffee mixture between the cooled sponge cakes.
Frost the top of the cake.
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.
-
Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the filling and adds richness as it thickens.
- Egg
- Its proteins set when heated, helping the filling thicken and hold together.
- Flour
- Its starch swells when boiled, thickening the milk into a spreadable filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture while stirring constantly. Flour starch and egg proteins can scorch on the bottom of the pan or form lumps if the mixture is left unstirred. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and lets the starch thicken smoothly.
“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 coffee cake recipes
You might also like
Coffee Ice Cream91 recipes
Coffee Custard27 recipes
Coffee Bavarian Cream14 recipes
Coffee Pudding10 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.