Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Ginger Pudding
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and bake the batter
In a bowl, mix together the molasses, butter, sour cream, baking soda, and ground ginger.
Gradually add flour until the mixture reaches a cake batter consistency.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve
Serve with any sauce you desire.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, sweet flavor to the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity that keeps the crumb tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and sour cream to produce gas that makes the pudding rise.
- Ground ginger
- Provides the warm, spicy aroma that defines the dish.
- Flour
- Provides structure that sets the batter as it bakes.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the mixture reaches a cake batter consistency. Flour sets the structure as it bakes; adding too much makes the cake dense and dry, while too little leaves it too loose to hold its shape.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, cream, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, cream, 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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