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 ↓
Soft Ginger Bread
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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter and brown sugar together until smooth.
Add the molasses and mix well.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Mix the baking soda into the sour milk and combine it with the butter mixture.
Sift the flour and spices together, then add them to the mixture alternately with the sour milk, beating well.
Bake
Pour the batter into Gem pans or a ginger cake tin.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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.
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and the characteristic ginger cake flavor and sweetness.
- Butter
- Provides fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor when creamed with sugar.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness and moisture.
The step that matters
Mix the baking soda into the sour milk and combine it with the butter mixture. Baking soda needs an acid to react; sour milk supplies it. Combining promptly keeps the gas that lifts the batter from escaping before baking.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, 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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