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Dessert

Ginger Cake

A moist ginger cake made with lard, sour cream, molasses, and spices, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Ginger Cake

Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Cake

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 the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix lard, sour cream, sugar, cinnamon, and molasses.

  3. Dissolve baking soda in a little warm water and add to the mixture.

  4. Add eggs and mix well.

  5. Gradually add flour, incorporating baking powder with the last cup.

  6. Beat the batter vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes.

Bake

  1. Line deep pans with greased paper and fill them with the batter.

  2. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, testing with a broom whisk for doneness.

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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Sour cream
Adds moisture and tenderness, and its acidity helps the baking soda react.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to lift the cake and help it rise.
Baking powder
Provides extra lift so the cake rises further during baking.
Eggs
Provide structure and help bind the batter while adding richness.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, moisture and the characteristic ginger-cake flavor.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.

The step that matters

Beating the batter vigorously. Vigorous beating develops gluten in the flour, giving the cake structure and a firm crumb. Beating only briefly in the mixture stage keeps the crumb tender, so timing matters.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, cinnamon, flour, egg, molasses):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, cinnamon, flour, egg, molasses. 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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