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 ↓
Mocha Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Sift together salt, cinnamon, clove, and flour.
Make the batter
Cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Mix in the treacle and beat well.
Add the flour mixture and cold coffee alternately, starting and ending with flour.
Dissolve the baking soda in the coffee before adding.
Beat the batter thoroughly before pouring it into a paper-lined cake tin.
Bake
Bake for 25-30 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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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together895 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds fat for a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy batter when creamed.
- Treacle (molasses)
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and a rich flavour with some browning.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic treacle and coffee to produce gas that lifts the cake.
- Cold strong coffee
- Adds liquid to hydrate the flour and gives the cake its mocha flavour.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the coffee before adding. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and evenly distributed so it reacts throughout the batter, producing even rising and avoiding pockets of bitter, unreacted soda.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, flour, sugar, butter, molasses, coffee):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, flour, sugar, butter, molasses, coffee. 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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