Name: Homoeopathic Molasses Cake
Ingredients: 2 ½ pounds unbleached all-purpose flour; ½ pound butter, softened; ¼ pound sugar; 1 tablespoon baking soda; Molasses, enough to make a dough

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Homoeopathic Molasses Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

2 ½ pounds unbleached all-purpose flour
½ pound butter, softened
¼ pound sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
Molasses, enough to make a dough

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 the dough

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, rub together the butter, flour, sugar, and baking soda.
Add molasses gradually until a dough forms.
Knead the dough well and shape it into round cakes.

Shape and bake

Flatten the cakes slightly and place them on lightly buttered baking sheets.
Mix thin molasses with a little water and brush it over the cakes.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Unbleached all-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the dough together as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and tenderness by coating flour and keeping the crumb soft.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown as it bakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to lift and lighten the cakes.
Molasses: Binds the dough, adds moisture, and gives deep flavour and dark colour.

The step that matters

Brushing the cakes with thin molasses. Molasses sugars brown quickly in the oven, so a thin, even coat browns the surface evenly without burning in patches.

“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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Homoeopathic Molasses Cake