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Dessert

Molasses Cake

A sweet cake made with molasses, spices, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Molasses Cake

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 ↓

Molasses Cake

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. Dissolve the baking soda in the molasses.

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

  3. Combine the eggs, milk, and molasses (with baking soda) in a mixing bowl.

  4. Add the melted butter, spices, flour, and lemon juice to the mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into small scallop pans.

  2. 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.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the dark color, rich sweetness, and moist texture of the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
Eggs
Add structure and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Melted butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and richer flavor.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet molasses and reacts with the baking soda.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the molasses. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acid in the molasses. Undissolved pockets can leave bitter spots and uneven rising.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerfits less well

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