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Spanish Bun

A sweet cinnamon-allspice bun topped with a brown sugar and cinnamon icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Spanish Bun

Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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. 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.

  3. Add the eggs and milk, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients: cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  5. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until smooth.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

Bake and ice

  1. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the icing, beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the brown sugar and cinnamon, mixing until smooth.

  3. Spread the icing over the cooled bun.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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 as they set in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the bun and adds moisture and a caramel flavour.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the bun rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, helping the baking soda react and stabilising the egg whites.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites for the icing until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks, because the foam gives the icing its light body. Under-whipped whites stay runny and spread poorly, while over-whipping makes them dry and grainy.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

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