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Dessert

Lafayette Gingerbread

A moist gingerbread cake flavored with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and lemon, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Lafayette Gingerbread

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 ↓

Lafayette Gingerbread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl.

  2. Beat the eggs well and add them to the butter and sugar mixture.

  3. Pour in the molasses and mix thoroughly.

  4. Add the ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves, stirring well.

  5. Gradually mix in the flour and stir continuously.

  6. Incorporate the lemon juice and peel last, mixing until light.

Bake

  1. Butter a baking pan and pour the batter into it.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour, or until cooked through.

  3. For lighter gingerbread, dissolve 1 teaspoon of pearl-ash in 1 teaspoon of vinegar and stir in at the end.

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. Allspice + clovetop 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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat and tenderness, carrying flavour through the crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the gingerbread together as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and the dark colour and deep flavour of the gingerbread.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps it brown and stay moist.
Pearl-ash or saleratus
Releases gas in the batter to lighten the crumb, and is optional.

The step that matters

Adding the pearl-ash mixture at the end. Pearl-ash reacts with the acid in vinegar and lemon to release gas, so it should be stirred in last and the batter baked promptly to keep the lift in the crumb.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, clove. 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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