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Dessert

Taylor Cakes

A moist cake made with molasses, sugar, sour milk, eggs, butter, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Taylor Cakes

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

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

  2. In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, sugar, sour milk, and eggs.

  3. Melt the butter and add it to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and flour until well combined.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto buttered pans.

  2. Bake until golden brown.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon 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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture, and a deep sweet flavor to the batter.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness to the crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that softens the crumb and carries flavor.

The step that matters

Stir in the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid, such as the sour milk and molasses, to release gas. Stirring it in well distributes it evenly so the cakes rise uniformly. Baking soda left clumped can cause uneven rising and bitter pockets.

Swap the ginger

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

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

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