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Dessert

Golden Spice Cake

A spiced cake made with brown sugar, molasses, butter, spices, raisins, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 19 ingredients
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Golden Spice Cake

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 ↓

Golden Spice Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Gather the ingredients: the yolks of seven eggs and one whole egg, two cupfuls of brown sugar, one cupful of molasses, one cupful of butter, one large coffee cupful of sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda (just even full), five cupfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of ground cloves, two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, one nutmeg, and a small pinch of cayenne pepper.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs, sugar, and butter to a light batter before adding the molasses.

  2. Add the molasses, flour, and milk to the batter.

  3. Beat the mixture well together.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven.

  2. If using raisins, flour them well and fold them into the batter last.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1007Calories
29 gProtein
29 gFat
161 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

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

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide structure and richness, and help the batter set as it bakes.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a moist crumb.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep colour and a rich, slightly bitter flavour.
Soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that helps the cake rise.

The step that matters

Beating the eggs, sugar, and butter to a light batter. Beating incorporates air into the creamed fat and sugar, which gives the batter lift. Adding the molasses only after this stage keeps the batter light and well aerated.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, flour, clove, cinnamon, raisin):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, flour, clove, cinnamon, raisin. 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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