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Dessert

Spanish Bun

A sweet raisin bun flavored with cinnamon and cloves, baked in a long pan and iced with a sugar‑milk glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Spanish Bun

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Spanish Bun

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, stir together the light brown sugar and butter.

  3. Add the eggs and mix well.

  4. Sift the baking powder with a little of the flour and add it along with the remaining ingredients.

  5. Pour the batter into a long pan and bake until golden.

Ice and serve

  1. Cut into squares.

  2. For the icing, cook 1 cup granulated sugar and ½ cup sweet milk until thick.

  3. Spread the icing over the top of the cake and sprinkle with 1 cup chopped raisins.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and stays light.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
Light brown sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and golden.

The step that matters

Sifting the baking powder into the flour. Baking powder must be spread evenly through the flour so the leavening acts uniformly, otherwise pockets of gas create uneven rising and dense or bitter spots.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, cinnamon, milk, raisin, 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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