Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. 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
Combine butter or lard and molasses in a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Add baking soda, cold water, and spices to the eggs.
Mix the egg mixture into the molasses mixture until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool before serving.
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.
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,123 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,879 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter or lard
- Adds fat that keeps the cake tender and moist.
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, dark color, and a deep flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and help bind the batter as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas that lifts the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda to the batter. Baking soda reacts with acid in the molasses to release gas for rising. Mixing it in with the eggs and cold water and then combining it promptly helps the gas stay in the batter, so the cake rises well before it sets in the oven.
“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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