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Dessert

Ginger Bread

A moist ginger bread loaf made with butter, sugar, molasses, sour milk, flour, eggs, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

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

  2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

  3. Add the molasses and sour milk, mixing well.

Mix the batter

  1. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.

  2. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.

  3. Pour the batter into a square cake pan.

Bake

  1. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and binding to the batter as they set in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the cake.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and a deep sweetness that defines the gingerbread flavor.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.

The step that matters

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and stirring just until combined keeps gluten development limited, so the cake stays tender rather than tough and dense.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, milk, flour, egg, 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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