Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. 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.
Make the batter
Cream the sugar and butter together until smooth.
Beat the eggs and add them to the creamed mixture.
Stir in the cold coffee.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then add to the mixture. Beat well until combined.
Bake
Pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick 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.
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,391 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and creaming traps air for texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
The step that matters
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then beat well until combined. Beating after adding flour develops gluten, which can make the cake tough, while baking powder must be evenly distributed to rise uniformly. Mix only until no dry flour streaks remain.
Swap the vanilla
The recipe marks vanilla as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, coffee, flour):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Bananafits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, coffee, flour. 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.
More coffee cake recipes
You might also like
Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes
Coffee Ice Cream91 recipes
Coffee Custard27 recipes
Coffee Bavarian Cream14 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.