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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
Add the molasses and cold coffee, mixing well.
Stir in the baking soda, fruit, cinnamon, and cloves.
Gradually add flour until you achieve a stiff batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving a tender, fine-textured crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light texture when creamed with butter.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and a dark color to the cake.
- Cold coffee
- Adds liquid and a roasted flavor that deepens the spices and molasses.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together once baked.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until a stiff batter forms. Adding flour gradually and stopping at a stiff batter keeps the gluten from overdeveloping, 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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