Name: Ginger Spice Cake
Ingredients: one cup of molasses; one teaspoonful of cloves; one teaspoonful of cinnamon; a cup of butter; a cup of milk; two eggs; one tea- spoonful of baking powder

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Ginger Spice Cake

Ingredients

Directions

One cup of molasses, half a cup of butter, half a cup of milk, two eggs, one teaspoonful of cloves, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, one tea- spoonful of baking powder, orie of salt ; bake in a quick oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

855Calories

28 gProtein

26 gFat

126 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

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

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cinnamon + teatop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together245 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

Swap the clove

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

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits about as well
Clovethe original
Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, cinnamon, butter, milk, egg, tea. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.