Why it works: Sugar and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Raised Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Spread a portion of the prepared dough in a greased shallow tin.
Sprinkle the dough with sugar and cinnamon, then dot with bits of butter.
Allow the dough to rise until it is quite light.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 to 20 minutes.
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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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Dough
- Forms the base of the cake and rises to give it a light, airy crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, keeping the cake tender and moist as it melts into the dough.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the sweet topping.
The step that matters
Allowing the dough to rise until quite light. The rise traps gas in the dough, which the baking sets into an airy crumb. Stopping too early gives a dense cake, while letting it rise too long can cause it to collapse in the oven.
“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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