Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Coffee Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar until light.
Stir in the whipped egg whites until stiff.
Whisk the mixture over boiling water until warm.
Remove from heat and whisk until cold.
Sift in the flour gently and mix until combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a lined baking mold and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until ready.
Remove from the oven and take off the paper.
Let it cool before serving.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites give the batter its light, airy structure, while the yolks add richness.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps the beaten yolks become light and thick.
- Flour
- Provides the light structure that holds the set crumb once baked.
The step that matters
Whisking over boiling water, then cooling. Warming the batter over steam helps it thicken gently, but whisking until cold afterward keeps the whipped egg whites from deflating. Sifting in the flour gently preserves the air already in the batter.
“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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