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Dessert

Spice Cup Cakes

A sweet baked cupcake flavored with molasses, spices, and sour milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Spice Cup Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

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

  2. In a bowl, mix molasses, sugar, butter, and sour milk until well combined.

  3. Add salt, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves, and baking soda mixture. Stir until smooth.

  4. Gradually add flour, mixing until just combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into greased cupcake tins.

  2. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture, and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the cupcakes rise and stay tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cupcakes together as the batter sets.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Gradually add flour, mixing until just combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Overmixing toughens the crumb, so stop as soon as no dry flour streaks remain.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, allspice, clove):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, allspice, clove. 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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