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Dessert

Molasses Cake

A moist cake made with molasses, brown sugar, butter, raisins, and spices, baked until a broom straw comes out clean.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Molasses Cake

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 ↓

Molasses Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. In a mixing bowl, stir together molasses, brown sugar, butter, egg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, mace or nutmeg, and salt.

  2. Sift in flour and cream of tartar.

  3. Add the steamed raisins.

  4. Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to the mixture.

  5. Stir lightly but thoroughly, then pour into a greased shallow pan lined with paper.

Bake

  1. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C) until a broom straw 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.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a soft, moist crumb.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once it is set by heat.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter and reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that lifts the cake.

The step that matters

Stirring the batter. Stir lightly but thoroughly, as the record directs. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can toughen the cake, while under-mixing leaves pockets of unmixed baking soda and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

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

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

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