Why it works: Coffee and nuts work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 105 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Molasses Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and mix
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix sugar, molasses, coffee or sour milk, and boiling water with baking soda dissolved in it.
Add shortening and eggs, and mix well.
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to drop from a spoon.
Pour batter into a greased baking pan.
Make the filling
For the filling, boil 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk until it forms a soft ball when dropped in water.
Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon butter.
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.
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.
-
Coffee + nutstop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together105 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Nuts + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,180 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Provides dark color, moisture and a deep, sweet flavor to the cake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic coffee or sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Eggs
- Add structure and help bind the batter as they set during baking.
- Shortening
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and moist texture.
- Flour
- Builds the structure of the cake and gives the batter its stiff body.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to drop from a spoon. Flour forms the cake's structure as it hydrates and gluten develops. Adding too much makes the cake dense and dry, while too little leaves it heavy and gummy. Adding it gradually lets you stop at the right consistency.
Swap the nuts
The recipe marks nuts as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Hazelnutfits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, coffee, egg, flour. 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.
More molasses cake recipes
You might also like
Molasses Cookies96 recipes
Coffee Ice Cream91 recipes
Coffee Custard27 recipes
Coffee Cake21 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.