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Dessert

Scotch Gingerbread

A moist gingerbread loaf with raisins, ginger, almonds, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Scotch Gingerbread

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.

Prepare

  1. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

  2. Add the raisins, preserved ginger, and chopped almonds.

Make the batter

  1. Heat the molasses and shortening until boiling, then stir into the dry ingredients.

  2. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Bake

  1. Bake in a loaf pan for 1 hour or in a sheet pan for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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 gingerbread together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses to produce gas, helping the batter rise and darken.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, adding lift to the crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter and helping it set.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness, and the deep flavour and colour typical of gingerbread.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries the spice flavour.

The step that matters

Heating the molasses and shortening until boiling. Boiling the molasses and fat before adding them helps dissolve and distribute the liquids evenly, and overheating can darken and dry the batter. Stir them in while hot so the baking soda reacts evenly throughout.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisin, almond, molasses. 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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