Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Gingerbread 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
Add the butter to the flour mixture and combine well.
Heat the treacle until it runs thin, then stir in the warm milk.
Sift the ginger, coarse sugar, and allspice over the flour mixture and stir well.
Beat the eggs and add them to the treacle and milk mixture, then combine with the flour to form a smooth dough.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into a cake tin or flat baking tin and bake immediately.
Once baked, turn the gingerbread out to cool.
If using a flat tin, cut into squares.
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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Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,302 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the gingerbread together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
- Unsalted butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Treacle (molasses)
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and gives the gingerbread its characteristic flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake immediately after mixing. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it is moistened and mixed with liquid. Waiting before baking lets that gas escape, so the cake may rise less and turn out denser.
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, molasses, milk, ginger, sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, molasses, milk, ginger, sugar, egg. 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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