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Dessert

Rich Gingerbread

A moist gingerbread cake made with butter, sugar, molasses, flour, ginger, baking soda, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Rich Gingerbread

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. Melt the butter, sugar, and molasses together in a saucepan over low heat.

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

  3. Stir the melted mixture into the beaten eggs.

  4. Add the ginger and baking soda, then mix well.

  5. Gradually stir in the flour until combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45-60 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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 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
Adds richness and tenderness, and helps give the crumb a soft texture.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and deep sweetness with a slightly sharp flavor.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Flour
Forms the gluten and starch framework that gives the cake its structure.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid, such as molasses, to react and release gas for lift. Mixing it in thoroughly and stirring the batter promptly helps the leavening spread evenly so the gingerbread rises without dense pockets.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, 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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