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Dessert

Ribbon Cake

A spiced cake with molasses and fruit, baked in layers and frosted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ribbon 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Beat together the sugar and butter until creamy.

  3. Add the eggs and sweet milk, mixing well.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups of the mixture with cream of tartar and baking soda.

  5. To the remaining mixture, add cinnamon, cloves, grated nutmeg, molasses, fruit, and ½ cup flour.

Bake and assemble

  1. Pour the batter into three cake pans, alternating the dark and light mixtures.

  2. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. Layer the cakes with jelly or frosting in between, and frost the top if desired.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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 set during baking.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps give it a tender texture when creamed with butter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas that helps the cake rise.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep colour and flavour to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Alternating the dark and light batters in the pans. The dark batter with molasses and the light batter differ in colour and density. Spooning them in alternately, rather than mixing them, keeps the separate ribbons distinct after baking.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, cream, 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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