Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Best Ginger Bread
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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the baking molasses and white sugar until well combined.
Add the sour cream and mix until smooth.
In another bowl, combine the flour, ground ginger, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Beat in the egg until fully incorporated.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Baking molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the batter.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and tenderness, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help rising.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that sets the crumb as the batter bakes.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that lifts the batter.
The step that matters
Stirring in the dry ingredients. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form, so stirring only until just combined keeps the gingerbread tender rather than tough and dense.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, cream, flour, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, cream, flour, 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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