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Dessert

Gingerbread—without Eggs

A moist gingerbread cake made without eggs, using whole wheat flour, molasses, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger 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 ↓

Gingerbread—without Eggs

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift together the flour, salt, and spices.

  2. Add half the baking soda to the milk and beat the milk mixture until light.

  3. Add half the baking soda to the molasses and beat the molasses mixture until light.

  4. Combine the milk and molasses mixtures with the flour and spices.

  5. Stir in the melted butter.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased and floured pan.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 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. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 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

Whole wheat flour
Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, moisture, and a deep flavor to the gingerbread.
Melted butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps hydrate the flour for a tender batter.

The step that matters

Beating the milk and molasses mixtures with the baking soda. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the acidic molasses and liquid, so the batter should be combined and baked promptly to keep the gas that lifts it from escaping.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, cinnamon, milk, molasses, butter. 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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