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Dessert

Ginger Bread

A moist cake made with brown sugar, molasses, butter, sour milk, baking soda, egg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.

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

Ginger Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, molasses, butter, and sour milk.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of boiling water and add it to the mixture.

  3. Beat in the egg, then stir in the ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

Bake

  1. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  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

Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas, lifting the batter as it bakes.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness to the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for moistness and a tender texture.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the batter.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crumb brown.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and mixed in promptly so it reacts evenly with the acidic sour milk. Uneven distribution leaves dense spots or soapy, bitter patches, and the rise depends on that reaction happening in the batter.

Swap the ginger

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

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

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