Name: Spicy Gingerbread with Sherry-Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: Serves 9.
Ingredients: 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing dish; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 Tbs. ground ginger; 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp. ground cloves; 1/2 tsp. finely ground black pepper; 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper; 3/4 tsp. salt; 1/2 tsp. baking powder; 1/2 tsp. baking soda; 2 eggs; 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar; 2/3 cup dark molasses; 1 cup whole milk; One 4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated; 1/2 lb. cream cheese, at room temperature; 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature; Pinch of salt; 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted; 1 tsp. dry sherry

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cinnamon, clove, pepper, egg, sugar):

Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Cardamomfits better
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cinnamon, clove, pepper, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Spicy Gingerbread with Sherry-Cream Cheese Frosting