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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and brown sugar together.
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.
Sift the flour and spices together, then add to the mixture alternately with the sour milk. Beat well until smooth.
Bake
Bake in Gem pans or a ginger cake tin at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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 a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps keep the crumb soft.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding to hold the batter together as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the crumb.
The step that matters
Combining the sour milk and baking soda with the flour. The baking soda must react with the acidic sour milk to release gas for rising. Adding flour and sour milk alternately and beating only until smooth keeps the batter light and avoids overworking the gluten, which would make the cake tough.
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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