Skip to main content
Dessert

German Coffee Cake

A yeasted cake with almonds, citron, raisins, and a butter-sugar topping, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 sponge

  1. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm milk, add salt and brown sugar.

  2. Sift 1 cup of flour into a bowl, add the milk and yeast mixture, and stir until smooth.

  3. Set the batter in a warm place to rise.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together the butter and powdered sugar.

  2. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks, mixing well.

  3. Gradually add the remaining flour, alternating with the risen batter, stirring until combined.

  4. Fold in the almonds, citron, and floured raisins.

Rise and bake

  1. Grease a deep cake pan with butter and fill it with the batter.

  2. Let it rise in a warm place for at least 3 hours.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour, covering for the first 15 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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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 together as it bakes.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to add richness and a tender crumb.
Whole eggs and egg yolks
Add structure, richness and moisture, and help set the crumb.
Compressed yeast
Ferments the batter so it rises and becomes light and airy.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps create a fine, even texture when creamed with butter.
Almonds
Add nutty flavour and a moist, dense texture to the crumb.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rise fully. Yeast needs enough time in a warm place to build gas and structure. Rising too briefly leaves the cake dense, while over-rising can collapse it, so the batter should rise until visibly puffed before baking.

“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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes