Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
German 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 dough
Combine shortening, sugar, and salt in a bowl, then add scalded milk.
When lukewarm, mix in the yeast cake mixture, egg, and enough flour to make a stiff batter.
Stir in raisins and citron.
Beat vigorously, cover, and let rise overnight.
Shape and bake
In the morning, beat the mixture again.
Drop it into a well-greased shallow pan.
Spread the cake with an egg mixture made from 1 beaten egg, ⅓ cup sugar, ⅓ cup flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 3 tablespoons melted butter.
Allow the cake mixture to rise until doubled in size.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes or 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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Yeast cake
- Ferments the batter so it rises and becomes light and airy.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping the batter hold together as it bakes.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten structure that gives the stiff batter its body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a soft texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and milk proteins that enrich flavor and browning.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise overnight and again after shaping. Yeast needs enough time to produce gas and expand the dough. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while over-proofed dough can collapse, so the rise should be allowed to reach the stated point rather than rushed.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, flour):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Blueberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, 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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