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Dessert

California Cakes

A spiced molasses cake with lard, sugar, and egg baked in a greased pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

California Cakes

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).

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg in a bowl, then mix in the sugar, molasses, lard, and lukewarm water.

  2. Add the baking soda, ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon, mace, and allspice, mixing well.

  3. Gradually add flour until you achieve a soft mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan and bake until done.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 the cake sets.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown as it bakes.
Lard
Adds fat, giving the cake a tender, moist crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lift and lighten the cake.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake together.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda to the molasses mixture. Baking soda needs an acidic partner such as molasses to release gas and rise. Mixing it in thoroughly keeps the leavening even, so the cake rises uniformly rather than in patches.

Swap the allspice

The recipe marks allspice as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, molasses, clove, ginger, cinnamon, mace):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Cardamomfits less well
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, molasses, clove, ginger, cinnamon, mace. 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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