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Molasses Cake

"Serve warm with ice cream, frosted with cream cheese, or all by its lonesome. This cake is always a treat."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 11 ingredients
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Illustration of Molasses CakeIllustration

Why it works: Molasses and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,928 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

1 - 9 inch square cake

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Molasses + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, egg, cinnamon, ginger, flour, coffee):

  1. Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Cardamomabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspiceabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, egg, cinnamon, ginger, flour, coffee. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).