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Dessert

Molasses Cake

A moist cake made with molasses, flour, butter, sugar, almonds, citron, lemon rind, sweet milk, baking soda, and spices.

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

Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

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

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

  2. Blanch and finely chop the almonds.

Mix and bake

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, molasses, butter, sugar, chopped almonds, citron, baking soda, lemon rind, sweet milk, and spices until well combined.

  2. Pour the batter into a cake mold.

  3. Bake 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.

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.

  1. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and deep sweetness to the cake.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a rich texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Almonds
Add texture and nutty flavor, and contribute moisture and body to the batter.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and helps bind the batter into an even mixture.

The step that matters

Checking doneness with a toothpick. Molasses batters are dense and moist, so the centre can look set before it is fully baked. Testing the centre with a toothpick ensures the structure has firmed and the cake is not left gummy inside.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, butter, sugar, almond, milk. 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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Raisin 12Spiced 4Eggless 3 See all 205 →

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