Skip to main content
Dessert

Spanish Bun

A sweet, cinnamon-allspice bun with icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Spanish Bun

Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spanish Bun

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.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.

  3. Add the eggs and milk, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients: cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  5. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.

Bake

  1. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Ice and finish

  1. For the icing, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff, then gradually add ½ cup brown sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon, mixing until smooth.

  2. Spread the icing over the cooled bun.

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.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Add structure to the batter and help it set as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to lift the batter.
Cream of tartar
Provides the acid that activates the baking soda for rising.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites need to be beaten enough to hold stiff peaks so the icing keeps its shape and becomes smooth when the sugar is added. Underbeaten whites make a runny icing, while overbeaten whites turn grainy and dry.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, cream. 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.

More spanish bun recipes

Cake 6 See all 29 →

You might also like

Cinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipesCinnamon CakeCinnamon Cake42 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipes