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Dessert

Gingerbread Loaf

A sweet loaf made with molasses, butter, sugar, milk, eggs, flour, ginger, cloves, and baking soda.

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

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Gingerbread Loaf

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.

Prepare

  1. Sift the spices with the flour.

  2. Warm the butter and mix it with the molasses.

  3. Warm the milk and dissolve the baking soda in it.

Make and bake

  1. Beat the eggs well and mix all ingredients together into a smooth dough.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and the dark color typical of gingerbread.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lift the loaf and help it rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the warm milk. Baking soda needs to be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly through the batter; undissolved clumps can leave pockets of bitter taste and uneven rising.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour, ginger. 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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