Why it works: Biscuit and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 312 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Add sugar to the dry ingredients and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the well-beaten egg with the liquid ingredients.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together as usual.
Roll or pat the dough into a sheet ½ inch thick and place it in a greased pan.
Dot the top with bits of butter and sprinkle with sugar and a little cinnamon.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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.
-
Biscuit + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together312 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
-
Biscuit + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,009 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Sugar + biscuittop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,874 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, biscuit, butter):
- Capersfits about as well
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, biscuit, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More coffee cake recipes
You might also like
Baking Powder Biscuit119 recipes
Cinnamon Rolls71 recipes
Cinnamon Cake42 recipes
Sour Milk Biscuit27 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.