Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. 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).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in the molasses and cold coffee until well combined.
Stir in the currants, baking soda, mixed spices, and eggs.
Gradually add flour until the batter thickens to your desired consistency.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or 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.
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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).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for aeration and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness and a dark color to the cake.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding as they set during baking, supporting the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the batter as it bakes, setting the crumb.
The step that matters
Adding the flour. Flour should be added gradually so the batter thickens to the right consistency. Adding too much at once can make the cake dense and tough, since gluten develops with mixing and flour absorbs liquid unevenly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, 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.
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