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Dessert

Crown Coffee Cake

A yeasted cake flavored with cinnamon, mace, and condensed milk, studded with currants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Crown 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 the dough

  1. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water.

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

  3. Add the condensed milk, salt, cinnamon, mace, and eggs; mix well.

  4. Gradually add the flour, mixing until a dough forms.

  5. Fold in the currants.

  6. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth.

  7. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into a cake and place it in a greased pan.

  2. Let it rise again until puffy.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

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.

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 + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Condensed milk + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Cinnamon and sugar 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

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the crumb set and hold together.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness, flavour and a softer crumb.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and contributes to a soft texture.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Letting the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs enough time to produce gas so the dough becomes light; underproofed dough bakes dense, while overproofed dough can collapse and lose its structure.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against condensed milk, butter, cinnamon, egg, currant, flour, sugar. 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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