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Dessert

Lafayette Gingerbread

A gingerbread cake made with butter, brown sugar, molasses, milk, ginger, spices, orange rind, eggs, and a soda‑tartar leavening.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Lafayette Gingerbread

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Lafayette Gingerbread

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. In a deep pan, cut the butter and brown sugar together until creamy.

  2. Mix in the molasses and milk.

  3. Add the ginger, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and brandy.

  4. Sift in the flour and mix well.

  5. Beat the eggs until very light, then mix them alternately with the flour mixture.

  6. Stir in the grated orange rind and juice.

Add the raising agents

  1. Dissolve the Magic Soda and tartaric acid in lukewarm water.

  2. Stir the dissolved Magic Soda into the mixture.

  3. Add the tartaric acid.

Bake

  1. Butter a large round or oblong pan and pour in the mixture.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until thoroughly done, watching to prevent burning.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
Butter
Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep molasses-like colour to the crumb.
Fine flour
Forms the main structure that the batter sets around as it bakes.
Molasses
Provides moisture, dark colour and the characteristic rich gingerbread flavour.
Magic soda
Reacts with the acid to release gas, helping the cake rise and open up.

The step that matters

Stirring in the Magic Soda and tartaric acid. The soda and acid react to release carbon dioxide, which leavens the batter. Mix the dissolved soda in promptly and bake soon after, because the gas escapes as the batter stands and the cake may fall or rise poorly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, milk, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, milk, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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