Skip to main content
Dessert

Coffee Cake

A sweet loaf made with butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, eggs, baking soda, spices, raisins, citron, figs, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Coffee Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and eggs until well combined.

  3. Add the molasses, prepared coffee, baking soda mixture, cinnamon, mace, and raisins. Mix well.

  4. Gradually add flour until the batter is stiff.

  5. Layer the citron and figs into the batter as you fill the pan.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

  2. Bake for 1 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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 + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together895 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
Builds the structure that holds the stiff batter together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that creates a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a dark color to the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the crust brown during baking.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda fully before adding it. Baking soda needs to be evenly dispersed in the batter to react with the acidic molasses and coffee. Unevenly mixed soda leaves pockets that can taste bitter or cause uneven rising.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, molasses, coffee, egg, cinnamon, raisin):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, molasses, coffee, egg, cinnamon, 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.

More coffee cake recipes

German 56Filling 7Apple 4Chocolate 3Dutch 3 See all 347 →

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesCoffee Ice CreamCoffee Ice Cream91 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesCinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipes