Name: Ginger Cakes
Ingredients: 6 ounces sifted lump sugar; 1 ounce powdered ginger; 2 eggs; 1 pound flour; ½ pound butter

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ginger Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the dough

Rub the sugar, ginger, and eggs into the flour.
Melt the butter and mix it with the other ingredients to form a paste.

Shape and bake

Roll out the paste to a thickness of ¼ inch.
Cut out rounds the size of the top of a tea cup.
Bake on iron plates in a warm oven 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.

Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the paste together and lets it be rolled and cut.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderizes the cakes and gives them a rich, short texture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and add moisture and structure to the paste.
Lump sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown during baking.
Powdered ginger: Provides the main spiced flavour that defines the cakes.

The step that matters

Baking at the stated oven temperature. A warm oven at 350°F (175°C) bakes the thin rounds through and dries them while they brown gently. Too hot and the sugar darkens and scorches before the centre sets; too cool and the cakes stay pale, soft and dense.