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Dessert

Molasses Cake

A moist cake made with molasses, butter, eggs, flour, buttermilk, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and optional raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth.

  3. Add the molasses and eggs, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.

Make the batter

  1. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, alternating with buttermilk.

  2. Fold in raisins if desired.

  3. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

Bake

  1. Bake for 30-40 minutes or 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  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

Butter
Creams with sugar-free molasses to add richness and a tender crumb.
Molasses
Provides sweetness, dark color, and moisture with a deep flavor.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and molasses to make the cake rise.

The step that matters

Alternating dry ingredients with buttermilk. Adding the dry ingredients gradually and alternating with buttermilk keeps the batter smooth and evenly mixed. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.

“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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