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 ↓
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Stir in the molasses and strong coffee.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and spices.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Fold in the raisins and currants.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 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).
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Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together895 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds tenderness and richness.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay soft.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep flavor, and extra browning from its sugars.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form, so stirring only until just combined keeps the cake tender rather than tough and dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, molasses, raisin, coffee, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, molasses, raisin, coffee, cinnamon. 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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