Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger 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 ↓
The Best of 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
In a tin pan, combine molasses and brown sugar and bring to a boil on the stove.
Add melted butter to the boiling mixture.
Stir in boiling water and baking soda.
Mix in the spices and flour until smooth, avoiding lumps.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) as soon as possible.
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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Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Provides sweetness, moisture and the dark color and flavor typical of gingerbread.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the batter together once baked.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich mouthfeel.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and deepens the caramel notes of the molasses.
The step that matters
Add the baking soda to the hot mixture and bake promptly. Baking soda starts releasing gas as soon as it meets the acidic molasses, so the batter should go into the oven soon after the soda is mixed in. Waiting lets the gas escape and leaves the cake denser.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, 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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