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Dessert

Soft Ginger Cake

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Soft Ginger Cake

Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon 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 ↓

Soft Ginger Cake

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 brown sugar.

  2. Add the molasses, sweet milk, ginger, and cinnamon; mix well.

  3. Beat in the eggs, separating the whites and yolks.

  4. Stir in 2 cups of sifted flour.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in water and add it to the mixture.

  6. Finally, mix in the remaining 2 cups of sifted flour.

Prepare and bake

  1. Butter and line two square bread pans with parchment paper.

  2. Divide the batter evenly between the pans.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 60 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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 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. 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

Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the cake set as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and sweet milk to produce gas that lightens the crumb.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and the deep sweetness characteristic of ginger cake.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in water before adding it to the batter. Baking soda needs moisture and an acid such as molasses to react and release gas. Dissolving it first spreads it evenly, so the cake rises uniformly instead of leaving pockets or bitter patches.

Swap the ginger

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

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

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