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Dessert

German Coffee Cake

A yeasted cake with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and almonds, baked in a low tin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

German Coffee Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water and let it soak for a few minutes.

  2. In a bowl, combine warm milk and enough flour to make a sponge; let it rise.

Make the dough

  1. Add butter or lard, sugar, and beaten eggs to the sponge, then mix in enough flour to form a soft dough.

  2. Let the dough rise again, then spread it about an inch thick in square low tins.

Top and bake

  1. Once light, spread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and chopped almonds.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light and airy.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
Butter or lard
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich, soft crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness to the dough and help bind it.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the topping.
Milk
Adds moisture and milk solids that help the dough brown.

The step that matters

Letting the dough rise until light. Yeast needs time to produce gas and stretch the gluten network. Rising too briefly leaves a dense cake, and the dough should look visibly light before topping and 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.

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