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Dessert

Sour Cream Gingerbread

A gingerbread cake made with sour milk and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Sour Cream 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.

Mix the batter

  1. Mix molasses, sour milk, and beaten egg together in a bowl.

  2. Add ginger, salt, and flour to the mixture.

  3. Dissolve baking soda in a small amount of hot water and add it to the mixture.

  4. Beat in the melted butter or butter substitute last.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a shallow pan or muffin tins.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 25 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.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to release gas, lifting the batter as it bakes.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb while adding a tangy note.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and contributes to the gingerbread flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the batter as it bakes.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps give it structure as it sets.
Butter or butter substitute
Adds fat for tenderness and moisture in the finished cake.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in hot water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and evenly distributed so it reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses throughout the batter. Clumps can leave bitter, soapy spots and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Gingerthe original

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