Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Soft Molasses Cake
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the sour cream and molasses, mixing well.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the lemon rind.
In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda with a little flour, then fold it into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake and cool
Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan until nearly cold before turning it out.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake bakes and sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to produce gas that lifts the cake.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness through the creamed fat and sugar.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness and a dark color with rich flavor.
- Sour cream
- Adds acidity to activate the baking soda and contributes moisture and tenderness.
The step that matters
Fold in the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to release gas and lift the cake. Mixing it with a little flour first spreads it evenly, so the batter rises uniformly without pockets of soda or bitter patches.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream, molasses, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream, molasses, egg. 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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