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Breakfast

Buckwheat Cakes

A batter of buckwheat meal, Indian meal, molasses, eggs, and yeast is baked into quick breakfast cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Colbrath, M. Tarbox · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Buckwheat Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Add four cups of warm water, then add nearly three cupfuls of buckwheat meal, nearly a cup of Indian meal, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, one teaspoonful of salt, and half a cake of compressed yeast.

  2. Scald the Indian meal with just enough water to swell it.

  3. When cool, add the scalded Indian meal to the buckwheat and warm water, and beat until well mixed.

  4. Dissolve the yeast in a little water, then add the salt, molasses, and dissolved yeast to the batter.

  5. Beat the batter for five or six minutes, then set it to rise in a warm place overnight.

Rise and bake

  1. In the morning, beat the batter well and set it near the fire for a second rising.

  2. Dissolve an even teaspoonful of soda in a little warm water, stir it into the batter, and bake.

  3. Serve the cakes from the griddle as soon as possible.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

238Calories
6 gProtein
17 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Buckwheatnot 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 Colbrath, M. Tarbox. 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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Buckwheat + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together213 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Buckwheat + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Buckwheat + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together224 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 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

Buckwheat meal
Forms the bulk of the batter and gives the cakes their characteristic earthy flavour.
Compressed yeast (in the method)
Ferments the batter so it rises and becomes light and airy.
Indian meal
Adds body and a coarser texture to the batter, and its scalding softens it for smoothness.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour, and feeds the yeast during fermentation.
Soda (in the method)
Reacts with the batter to add lift and help the cakes brown on the griddle.

The step that matters

Overnight rise in a warm place. The yeast needs time and steady warmth to ferment the batter; too cold slows the rise and too hot can kill the yeast, leaving flat, dense cakes.

Swap the buckwheat

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Buckwheatthe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, 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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