Name: Lemon Ginger Cake
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 cup sugar; 1 tablespoon baking soda; 12 eggs; Zest of 2 lemons; 1 cup milk; Juice of 1 lemon; 1 cup molasses

Why it works: Cinnamon and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Lemon Ginger Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the lemon zest, milk, lemon juice, and molasses.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Pour the batter into square pans and bake for 25-30 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.

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.

Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Swap the lemon

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cinnamon, sugar, egg, milk, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.