Skip to main content
Dessert

Thanksgiving Cake

A spiced molasses cake with raisins, baked in loaf pans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Thanksgiving 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the molasses and mix well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.

  6. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then fold them into the batter.

  7. Stir in the chopped raisins.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the batter into two greased loaf pans.

  2. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  3. Let cool before frosting with reserved egg whites 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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving a light, tender crumb and richness.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acid to lift and lighten the batter as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep caramel-like sweetness.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender texture when creamed with butter.

The step that matters

Gradually adding the dry ingredients. Adding flour in portions and mixing only until combined limits gluten development, which keeps the cake tender rather than tough and dense.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, raisin, flour, egg, allspice):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, raisin, flour, egg, allspice. 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.

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesCinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipesClove CakeClove Cake53 recipes