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Dessert

Ginger Cakes

A sweet ginger cake made with syrup, lard, baking soda, flour, and ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,564 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ginger Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA medium oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the dough

  1. Scald together the syrup and lard in a saucepan.

  2. Once cool, add the baking soda and enough flour to form a dough.

  3. Add ginger to taste.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough and cut into shapes with a cutter.

  2. Before baking, rub a little syrup over the tops.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Syrup + gingertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together950 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Syrup + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,540 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, and its sugars help the tops brown.
Lard
Adds fat that makes the dough rich and tender when baked.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic syrup to produce gas that lightens the dough.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dough together and gives the cakes their body.
Ginger
Contributes the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cakes.

The step that matters

Add the baking soda only after the syrup and lard have cooled. Baking soda reacts quickly with the acidic syrup and releases gas. Adding it to a very hot mixture makes that reaction rush and can leave the dough uneven, so letting it cool first gives a more controlled rise.

Swap the ginger

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, 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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