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
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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the molasses and strong coffee, mixing well.
Incorporate the beaten eggs into the mixture.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, spice, and black pepper.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
Dredge the raisins, citron, and currants in flour, then fold them into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake for 1 hour 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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together895 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to add richness and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure of the cake and helps suspend the fruit.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness with mild acidity.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness; flouring them helps keep them spread through the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the dredged fruit. Flouring the raisins, citron, and currants helps them stay suspended instead of sinking to the bottom. Folding gently keeps the batter's air and rise intact.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, flour, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, flour, cinnamon. 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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