Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Coffer 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 sugar and butter.
Add the molasses, weak coffee, and egg, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and spices.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.
Fold in the raisins.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Provides the structure that sets the cake crumb as the batter bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich mouthfeel in the crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark sweetness, and acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps give the cake its structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps browning and a moist crumb.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and stirring only until combined keeps the batter smooth and limits gluten development, which would otherwise make the cake tough.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, coffee, flour, butter, egg):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Bananafits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, coffee, flour, butter, egg. 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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