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Dessert

Coffee Cake, No. 3

A sweet coffee-flavored cake with raisins, molasses, and spices.

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

Coffee Cake, No. 3

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a cake tin with paper.

  2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and spices.

  3. Dredge the raisins in some of the flour.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and brown sugar together.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks and molasses.

  3. Alternate adding the coffee and flour mixture.

  4. Fold in the whipped egg whites.

Bake

  1. Divide the batter into 2 loaves.

  2. Bake for 50 minutes.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that sets as the starches and proteins cook.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.
Eggs
Bind the batter, and whipped whites add lift and structure.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Royal baking powder
Releases gas as it heats, helping the cake rise.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped egg whites.. Whipped whites trap air that makes the cake light. Folding gently keeps that air in the batter, while vigorous stirring deflates it and leaves a denser crumb.

Swap the clove

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

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

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

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