Why it works: Coffee and nuts work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 105 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, dark molasses, and butter and lard until well combined.
Stir in the strong coffee, then add the floured raisins, floured currants, and nuts.
In another bowl, beat the eggs separately and then fold them into the mixture.
Gradually add the flour and spices to the mixture, stirring until just combined.
Dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar and add it to the batter last.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes 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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Coffee + nutstop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together105 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Raisin + nutstop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together490 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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 and richness as the cake sets.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the vinegar and coffee acidity to lift and lighten the batter.
- Dark molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and a dark color to the cake.
- Butter and lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and moistness in the crumb.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda and vinegar last. Baking soda and vinegar react quickly to release gas, so the batter should go into the pan and oven promptly to keep the rise from fading.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, coffee, raisin, nuts, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, coffee, raisin, nuts, egg. 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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