Name: Spice Cake
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons shortening; 1 cup sugar; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup molasses; 1 teaspoon spice; 1 cup sour milk

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 ↓

Spice Cake

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.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix shortening and sugar until creamy.

Make the batter

Add baking soda, molasses, spice, and sour milk; mix well.
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans.

Bake and finish

Bake in layers until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool and frost with boiled frosting.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,243 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Sugar: Sweetens the batter and helps creams with shortening to trap air for a lighter crumb.
Molasses: Adds moisture, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness to the cake.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to release gas that makes the cake rise.
Sour milk: Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Shortening: Adds fat that tenderizes the cake and carries flavor.

“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.