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Dessert

Kate Mlnarik

A sweet ginger bread made with sugar, molasses, cinnamon, sour milk, flour, spices, egg, soda, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Kate Mlnarik

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Combine one cup granulated sugar, two tablespoons molasses, four tablespoons melted butter, one teaspoon salt, half teaspoon cinnamon, and one teaspoon mixed spices; stir and rub well together.

  2. Add one beaten egg and one cup sour milk.

  3. Sift one level teaspoon soda with two cups flour, add to other ingredients and beat about two minutes.

Bake and finish

  1. Turn into coffee cake pan and bake forty minutes in slow oven.

  2. While still warm, spread with plain icing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

797Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
138 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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.

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. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tea + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together216 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + teatop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  4. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the crumb.
Sour milk
Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the soda to help the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in sour milk to release gas that lifts the batter.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep sweetness with a slight tang.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep the crumb soft and browned.

The step that matters

Sifting the soda into the flour before beating. Sifting spreads the soda evenly so it reacts uniformly with the sour milk and rises without pockets. Beating only about two minutes is enough to combine, because overbeating develops gluten and makes the cake tough.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, cinnamon, milk, flour, tea, 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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