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Dessert

Sponge Gingerbread

A gingerbread cake made with molasses, butter, flour, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 46 ingredients
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Sponge Gingerbread

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Sponge Gingerbread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine one and one-half cups of molasses, one-half cup of melted butter, one good teaspoonful each of soda, salt, and ginger, one cup of boiling water, and flour enough for a thin batter as for sponge cake.

  2. Bake in thin sheets in a quick oven.

  3. Mix two eggs, two cups of sugar, three-quarters of a cup of butter, one cup of milk, two teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, and four cups of flour.

  4. Drop the batter into buttered pans.

  5. Sift over cinnamon and sugar just before putting into the oven.

Make the spiced dough

  1. Combine one and one-half cups of sugar, one cup of butter, three eggs, one-half teaspoonful of soda, one teaspoonful each of nutmeg, cassia, and allspice, one cup raisins chopped fine, one-half cup of citron chopped, and flour to roll.

  2. Bake in a quick oven.

Make the molasses cake

  1. Combine one egg, one cup of molasses, one cup of coffee, one teaspoonful of soda, one-half cup of butter, one-quarter teaspoon of all kinds of spice, one-half cup of sugar, and three cups of flour.

  2. Bake in a thin sheet.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1300Calories
30 gProtein
56 gFat
169 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 15 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Nutnot in our table0
Coffeenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 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

Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and a sweet, slightly acidic flavor to the batter.
Eggs
Provide structure and lift, setting the batter as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
Baking powder
Releases gas to help the batter rise in the oven.
Soda
Reacts with acidic molasses to lighten the batter and deepen its color.
Flour
Builds the structure that holds the batter and dough together.

The step that matters

Sift over cinnamon and sugar just before putting into the oven.. Topping is added just before baking so the sugar stays on the surface and does not dissolve into the batter, which would make the crust gummy and uneven.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, sugar, milk, flour, cream, chocolate):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, sugar, milk, flour, cream, chocolate. 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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