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Dessert

Cream Molasses Cake

A moist cake made with molasses, sour cream, and spices, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Cream Molasses 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.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, stir the sugar into the egg.

  3. Dissolve the baking soda in the cold water and stir it into the molasses.

  4. Add the molasses mixture to the sour cream and mix well.

  5. Combine the egg and sugar mixture with the molasses and cream mixture.

  6. Sift the spices into a small amount of flour and add this to the batter.

  7. Add enough additional flour to create a batter that is not too thick.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a well-buttered baking pan and bake for 1 hour.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and sour cream to lift the cake and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color and moisture to the cake.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tenderness and gives a slight tang that balances the molasses.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps with browning and a soft crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the batter into a cake as it bakes.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the cold water before adding it to the molasses. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and evenly mixed so it reacts with the acidic molasses and sour cream. Uneven mixing leaves dense spots or soda pockets that taste bitter.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Allspicefits about as well
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, cinnamon, molasses, cream, nutmeg, 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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