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Dessert

German Coffee Cake

A yeasted cake with a buttery glaze, cinnamon, and sugar topping, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the sponge

  1. In a large bowl, combine lukewarm milk and Royal Yeast.

  2. Gradually add flour until a stiff sponge forms, sifting the flour twice before use.

  3. Knead the mixture until large bubbles form, then cover and let it sit overnight.

Shape and rise

  1. The next morning, knead the dough again.

  2. Fill cake tins with the batter until they are three-quarters full and let it rise until doubled in size.

Glaze, bake and serve

  1. Glaze the top with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or chopped almonds.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

  3. Serve warm with coffee.

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

Flour
Forms the stiff sponge and provides the structure that holds the cake together.
Royal yeast
Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and become airy.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and yeast and adds softness and richness to the crumb.
Melted butter
Coats the top to add richness and help it brown golden in the oven.

The step that matters

Knead the dough again the next morning. After overnight fermentation the dough needs working to redistribute gas and develop gluten, which gives an even, well-risen crumb.

“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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