Name: Training Cakes
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 tablespoons water; 3 tablespoons melted shortening; molasses (enough to fill a teacup); coarse sea salt (to taste); ground ginger (to taste); all-purpose flour (enough to make a stiff dough)

Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Training Cakes

Ingredients

1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons melted shortening
molasses (enough to fill a teacup)
coarse sea salt (to taste)
ground ginger (to taste)
all-purpose flour (enough to make a stiff dough)

Directions

In a teacup, mix baking soda, water, and melted shortening.
Fill the cup with molasses and pour the mixture into a pan.
Add coarse sea salt and ground ginger to taste.
Stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough.
Knead the dough on a floured board like bread.
Roll out the dough and cut it into square or round cakes.

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.

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.

Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).