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Molasses Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Evora Bucknum Perkins · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Illustration of Molasses CakeIllustration

Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,225 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: butter

Directions

  1. 4 large eggs 3 level tablespns. butter ½ cup molasses ½ cup sugar, brown or white 1 teaspn. lemon juice 1½ teaspn. grated orange peel 1½ tablespn. browned flour 1 cup pastry flour

  2. Beat eggs and lemon juice in bowl set in boiling water, add sugar, then boiling molasses, with butter and orange peel, and lastly the flour.

By Evora Bucknum Perkins. 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.

The picture is an illustration, not a photo of this recipe · 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Flour + eggtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together104,138 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Molasses + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together10,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Egg + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together43,327 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Flour and egg share little aroma chemistry, yet 104,138 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

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

  1. Raisinbetter flavor fit
  2. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  3. Figabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, flour, egg, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

More molasses cake recipes

Raisin 12Spiced 4Eggless 3 See all 205 →

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