Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Ginger Cakes
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
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large tin bread pan, combine the boiling hot molasses and buttermilk.
Add the baking soda and ground ginger to the pan.
Stir in enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Mix in the lard or butter until well combined.
Finish
Once cooled, dust with flour, mold, and cut into cakes.
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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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together526 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Molasses + gingertop 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).
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
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, moisture, dark colour and deep flavour.
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and tenderises the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the molasses and buttermilk to release gas that lifts the batter.
- Ground ginger
- Gives the cakes their characteristic warm, spicy aroma and flavour.
- Lard or butter
- Adds fat that shortens the crumb and gives a tender texture.
- Flour
- Builds the structure that holds the stiff batter together as it sets.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda. Baking soda reacts with the acid in the hot molasses and buttermilk as soon as it is added, releasing gas that lifts the batter. Stir it in thoroughly and add the flour promptly so the gas is trapped in the batter instead of escaping before it sets.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, buttermilk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, buttermilk, 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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