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Molasses Cocoanut Cakes

A sweet cake made from grated coconut and molasses, cooked to a hard ball stage and dropped onto a greased surface.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Coconut and molasses work together. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 96 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Cocoanut Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine grated coconuts and molasses in a pot.

  2. Cook over low heat until it reaches a hard ball stage.

  3. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased surface.

  4. Do not attempt to granulate the mixture.

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. Coconut + molassestop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together96 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Grated coconuts
Provide the bulk and chewy texture of the cakes.
New orleans molasses
Adds sweetness and moisture, and as it cooks it helps the mixture set into firm cakes.

The step that matters

Cook to the hard ball stage over low heat. Sugar syrups set firmly only when cooked to the right concentration. Undercooked mixtures stay soft and sticky, while cooking too fast can scorch the molasses before the coconut is evenly heated. Low heat gives steady control.

“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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