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Dessert

Ginger Drop Cakes

A sweet cake made with molasses, lard, ginger, cloves, and baking soda, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Ginger Drop Cakes

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 Drop Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Pour boiling water over baking soda in a bowl and stir to dissolve.

  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine molasses, lard, egg, ginger, cloves, and salt.

  3. Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased baking sheet.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Clove + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,671 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 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 sweetness, dark color, and a moist, chewy texture to the cakes.
Lard
Adds fat for tenderness and moisture in the cakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas, helping the cakes rise and spread.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as the cakes set.
Ground ginger
Provides the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cakes.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the stiff batter and sets the cakes as they bake.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in boiling water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly through the batter. Undissolved pockets can cause bitter spots and uneven rising.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Turmericfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

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