Skip to main content
Dessert

Ginger Bread with Chocolate Glaze

A loaf of ginger bread topped with a chocolate glaze.

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

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ginger Bread with Chocolate Glaze

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.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  3. Stir the cinnamon, cloves, and ginger into the molasses, then add to the mixture.

  4. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in a little hot water and mix it into the black coffee.

  5. Alternately add the coffee mixture and flour to the batter, mixing well.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the batter into two bread tins.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 40 to 60 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.

  3. Invert the loaves and cover with a chocolate glaze.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cinnamon + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together895 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Bicarbonate of soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas, helping the loaves rise.
All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the gingerbread bakes.
Dark molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and the characteristic sweet, slightly acidic flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps keep the crumb moist and tender.

The step that matters

Alternately add the coffee mixture and flour. Adding the liquid and flour in alternating portions keeps the batter evenly emulsified and prevents lumps. Mixing only until combined avoids overdeveloping gluten, which would make the gingerbread tough.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, molasses, cinnamon, clove, coffee):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, molasses, cinnamon, clove, coffee. 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

Ginger CookiesGinger Cookies213 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesGinger CakeGinger Cake93 recipesCoffee Ice CreamCoffee Ice Cream91 recipes