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Dessert

Ginger Bread

A moist ginger-flavored loaf made with molasses, butter, spices, baking soda, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓

Ginger Bread

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.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix together the sugar, molasses, and butter until well combined.

  2. Add the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and mix well.

  3. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add to the mixture.

  4. Gradually stir in the flour until fully incorporated.

  5. Finally, fold in the well beaten eggs.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it sets in the oven.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and hot water to lift the batter and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, moisture, and the characteristic deep flavor of the bread.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich mouthfeel in the finished bread.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the boiling water. Baking soda needs moisture and an acidic partner like molasses to react and release gas. Dissolving it fully in hot water spreads it evenly through the batter, so the bread rises uniformly instead of leaving pockets or bitter spots.

Swap the ginger

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

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

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