Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the flour, black molasses, and strong coffee, mixing well.
Fold in the seeded raisins and currants.
Stir in the baking soda and spices to taste.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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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).
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.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to lift the batter as it bakes.
- Black molasses
- Adds dark colour, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Brown sugar
- Adds moisture, softness and caramel-like flavour.
- Seeded raisins
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Stir in the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid, here the molasses and coffee, to react and leaven the batter. Adding it late and mixing too long can knock out gas and leave the cake dense, so combine it evenly and bake promptly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, molasses, coffee, raisin, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, molasses, coffee, raisin, 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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