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Molasses Cake

A sweet cake made with molasses, brown sugar, lard, butter, sour milk, eggs, baking soda, spices, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Molasses Cake

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 ↓

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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, brown sugar, lard and butter, and sour milk.

  3. Add the eggs and mix well.

  4. Stir in the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and flour until combined.

Bake and serve

  1. Spread the batter into greased baking tins.

  2. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  3. Let cool before cutting. This cake is also delicious warm.

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. Clove + allspicetop 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, moisture, and a dark color to the cake.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to make the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Lard and butter
Add fat for tenderness and moisture in the crumb.

The step that matters

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Baking soda starts rising once it meets the acidic liquids, so the cake must bake until its structure sets. Pulling it early can cause a sunken, gummy center, while overbaking dries the crumb.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerfits about as well

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