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Dessert

Ginger Pound Cake

A moist pound cake flavored with ginger, molasses, and cloves, optionally studded with raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Ginger Pound Cake

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Pound Cake

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the molasses and mix well.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately.

  2. Add 1 cup of flour to each bowl of eggs and mix.

  3. Combine the egg mixture with the butter and sugar mixture, beating thoroughly.

  4. Stir in the milk and then add the dissolved baking soda.

  5. Fold in raisins if desired.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour.

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.

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.

  1. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour
Builds the cake's structure as its proteins and starch set during baking.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter hold its volume and set.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and dark colour, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas that lifts the batter.
Ginger
Provides the warm, spicy aroma that defines this cake.

The step that matters

Adding the dissolved baking soda. Baking soda starts releasing gas as soon as it meets the acidic molasses batter. It needs to be fully dissolved and mixed in evenly, then the batter should go into the pan and oven without delay, so the gas is trapped and the cake rises well.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, ginger, milk, molasses, butter, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, ginger, milk, molasses, butter, sugar. 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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