Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Coffee 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).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, cinnamon, molasses, and strong coffee.
Add the raisins, currants, and egg, and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the baking powder and sifted flour.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick 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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together895 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweet flavor.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form, so stirring only until just combined keeps the cake tender rather than tough and dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cinnamon, molasses, coffee, raisin, flour, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cinnamon, molasses, coffee, raisin, 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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