Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in the molasses and cold coffee until well combined.
Add the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and fruit, mixing thoroughly.
Gradually add flour until you achieve a stiff batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + syruptop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together272 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
- Molasses
- Adds deep sweetness, moisture, and a dark color to the cake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the batter as it bakes into a cake.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until you achieve a stiff batter. Adding flour gradually and mixing only until combined keeps the batter stiff and prevents overdeveloped gluten, which would make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, syrup, coffee, cinnamon, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Gingerfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, syrup, coffee, cinnamon, flour. 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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