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Dessert

Spanish Bun

A sweet, cinnamon-spiced bun with raisins, baked and frosted with vanilla icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

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.

Make the batter

  1. Sift the baking soda into the flour several times.

  2. In a bowl, stir together the sugar, butter, and beaten egg yolks until well combined.

  3. Add the beaten egg whites and mix gently.

  4. Pour the batter into a square pan.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. Frost with boiled icing flavored with vanilla and topped with 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites add richness and structure to the batter as it sets in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter as it bakes.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness to the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness and a deeper color to the crumb.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the bun together as it bakes.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten egg whites. Mixing the whites in gently keeps the air they hold, which helps the batter rise. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out and can leave a dense, heavy cake.

Swap the clove

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

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

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