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Dessert

Molasses Sponge Cake

A moist sponge cake flavored with molasses, spices, and butter, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Molasses Sponge Cake

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Molasses Sponge 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.

Make the batter

  1. In a cup, combine melted butter and molasses.

  2. Add egg yolks and boiling water; mix well.

  3. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

  4. Gradually add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients; stir until smooth.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the batter into two greased cake pans.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. Cool and frost with boiled frosting.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and a dark color with a robust flavor.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter to give structure to the crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the sponge together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Melted butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a softer crumb.

The step that matters

Gradually add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients; stir until smooth.. Adding the liquid slowly and stirring just until smooth keeps the batter evenly mixed without lumps. Overmixing once flour is hydrated develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.

“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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