Name: Coffee Cake
Ingredients: 1½ cups brown sugar; 1 cup butter; 1 cup molasses; 1 pound raisins; 5 cups flour; 1 large teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in coffee; ½ teaspoon cinnamon; ½ teaspoon cloves; ½ nutmeg

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, butter, molasses, and raisins.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until well combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30‑40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to help the cake rise and darken.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Molasses: Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, slightly acidic sweetness.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture, and caramel-like flavor to the cake.

Swap the clove

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

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits about as well
Clovethe original
Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, molasses, raisin, flour, coffee, 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.