Name: Dutch Pepper Cake
Ingredients: one cup molasses; one-half cup water; one-half cup butter; one teaspoonful soda; three cups flour; one-half teaspoonful each of cloves; one tea- spoonful ginger

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Dutch Pepper Cake

Ingredients

Directions

One cup molasses, one-half cup water, one-half cup butter, one tea- spoonful ginger, one teaspoonful soda, three cups flour and one ^gg, one-half teaspoonful each of cloves, allspice and cinnamon.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

673Calories

13 gProtein

13 gFat

124 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Water	not in our table	0

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 + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tea + gingertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together216 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Clove + teatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together181 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,483 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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, butter, flour, tea, ginger):

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

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