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Dessert

German Coffee Cake

A yeasted cake with raisins, topped with a cinnamon sugar glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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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 ↓

German Coffee Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Cream together the yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

  2. Scald the milk. Cool the milk.

  3. Add ¼ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon salt.

  4. Mix in sifted warm flour until it resembles a dropped batter.

  5. Add 2 unbeaten eggs, ½ cup raisins, and ¼ cup melted shortening. Mix well.

  6. Beat the mixture for about 10 minutes.

  7. Cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

  8. Beat down the dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Place it in pans about 2 inches deep.

  2. Let it rise again until doubled.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

  4. Brush the top with a beaten egg. Return to the oven for a few minutes.

Make and add the glaze

  1. In a saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons shortening. Add ¼ cup sugar.

  2. When nearly melted, stir in 3 tablespoons flour and 1½ teaspoons cinnamon until smooth.

  3. Spread the glaze over the cake. Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add richness and structure to the crumb.
Yeast
Leavens the dough as it ferments, making it rise and turn airy.
Shortening
Adds fat for a tender crumb and a rich, moist texture.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the batter its structure.
Raisins
Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Beat down the dough and let it rise again until doubled. Knocking back releases built-up gas so the yeast can build a fresh, even rise in the pans. Under-proofing leaves a dense cake, while over-proofing can cause it to collapse in the oven.

“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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