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 ↓
Ginger Sponge 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and molasses.
Add the sour cream, ginger, baking soda, and eggs; mix well.
Gradually add the flour and cinnamon, stirring until combined.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake
Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar-free molasses to add richness, tenderness and fat for a soft crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and deep flavour, and helps the cake brown.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, which works with baking soda to lighten the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins and starches set during baking.
The step that matters
Adding the flour and cinnamon. Stirring flour develops gluten, which makes the cake tough if overmixed. Stir only until combined so the crumb stays tender and light.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, cream, egg, flour, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, cream, egg, flour, cinnamon. 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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