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Dessert

Coffee Cake

A moist cake made with butter, brown sugar, molasses, coffee, eggs, raisins, currants, citron, spices, baking soda, flour, and optional brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and allspice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,359 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the molasses and strong coffee, mixing well.

  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

  5. Stir in the raisins, currants, and citron.

  6. In a separate bowl, combine the allspice, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, and flour.

  7. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.

  8. If desired, mix in the brandy or wine.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  2. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as the cake sets in the oven.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and caramel notes, and helps the cake brown.

The step that matters

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Overmixing makes the cake tough and dense, so stop stirring as soon as no dry flour remains.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, raisin, currant):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, raisin, currant. 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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