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 ↓
Ginger 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, mix the molasses with the egg yolks and spices.
Add the butter, flour, and beaten egg whites to the mixture.
Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk and add it to the batter.
Mix until well combined and pour into a greased baking pan.
Bake
Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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.
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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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together526 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
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, moisture, and the dark, rich flavor that defines the cake.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and the whipped whites trap air that lightens the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in buttermilk to release gas, making the cake rise.
- Buttermilk
- Adds acidity that activates the baking soda and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten egg whites. The whites hold air that gives lift. Stirring them in gently, rather than beating the batter hard, keeps that air from collapsing, which would leave the cake dense.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour, butter, cinnamon, buttermilk, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, flour, butter, cinnamon, buttermilk, egg. 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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