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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Mix in the molasses and strong coffee until well combined.
In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Fold in the raisins, currants, and spices.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake for about 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 + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness through fat that coats the flour and softens the crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep flavor while contributing acidity to the batter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while creaming aerates the batter.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Overmixing once flour meets liquid develops gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense. Stir only until the flour is just combined, leaving small lumps.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, molasses, coffee, flour, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, molasses, coffee, flour, raisin. 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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