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Dessert

German Gingerbread

A spiced gingerbread cake with candied peel and almonds, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

German Gingerbread

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.

Prepare

  1. Whisk the eggs and sugar over hot water until frothy.

  2. Cut the almonds in half and the peel into strips.

  3. Gently stir in all the dry ingredients.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-lined cake tin.

  2. Decorate the top with almonds and peel.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

  4. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Ginger + cinnamontop 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

Eggs
Whisked with sugar to trap air, giving the cake lift and a light crumb.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps whisked eggs hold their foam.
Flour
Forms the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts to lift the batter and help it rise in the oven.
Sweet almonds
Add nutty flavour and a crisp, toasted topping.
Peel (candied fruit)
Adds chewy texture and sweet, fruity flavour.

The step that matters

Gently stir in all the dry ingredients.. Overmixing once the flour goes in develops gluten and deflates the whisked eggs, making the cake dense rather than light.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, almond):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, almond. 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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