Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Ginger Drop Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water in a teacup.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, then add the dissolved soda mixture, ground ginger, and salt.
Fill the cup with molasses until it overflows.
Gradually add enough flour to make a thick batter that can be dropped by the spoonful onto baking sheets.
Cut crystallized ginger into small pieces.
Place one piece of crystallized ginger in each cake.
Bake
Bake in a moderately hot oven (400°F / 200°C) until done.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + gingertop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,152 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter and flour 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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses and releases gas, lifting the cakes as they bake.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Molasses
- Provides moisture, dark colour and rich sweetness with a slight acidity.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure that holds the thick batter together as it sets.
- Ground ginger
- Supplies the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the flour gradually. Flour must be stirred in only until the batter is thick enough to hold its shape when dropped. Overmixing develops gluten, which makes the cakes tough and dense rather than tender.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, molasses, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses, 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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