Name: Crumb Cakes
Ingredients: 1 pound lard; 2 cups sugar; 1 pint molasses; 6 eggs; 1 tablespoon ginger; 1 tablespoon cloves; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; 1 tablespoon baking soda; 2 pints bread crumbs

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 ↓

Crumb Cakes

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix the lard, sugar, molasses, and eggs until well combined.
Add the ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and baking soda, and mix thoroughly.
Fold in the bread crumbs to form a stiff batter.

Bake

Spoon the batter into muffin pans.
Bake until golden brown.

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.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Lard: Adds fat for a tender, rich crumb and moist texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.
Molasses: Adds moisture, dark color and a deep, sweet flavor.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses to help the cakes rise and lighten.
Bread crumbs: Form the bulk of the batter and give the cakes their body.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, egg, clove, cinnamon, bread):

Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Gingerthe original
Cardamomfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, egg, clove, cinnamon, bread. 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.