Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Soft-sugar Gingerbread
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine milk, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add the milk mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until smooth.
Fold in ginger to taste.
Bake
Pour batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and milk to lift the batter as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that works with baking soda to help the batter rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and liquid that hydrates the flour and loosens the batter.
The step that matters
Adding the milk mixture gradually. Adding the liquid in stages keeps the emulsion of butter, sugar and eggs from breaking. A smooth batter then bakes evenly and rises consistently.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, butter, egg, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, butter, egg, cream. 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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