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Dessert

Three-day Ginger Bread

A spiced molasses ginger cake whose dough is refrigerated and baked in portions as needed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Three-day Ginger Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the shortening and brown sugar together until well combined.

  2. Add the eggs and beat for 2 minutes.

  3. Mix in the molasses thoroughly.

  4. Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.

  5. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the boiling water to the creamed mixture.

  6. Beat the combined mixture hard for 1 minute.

  7. Remove enough dough to make a ginger cake for one meal and refrigerate the rest.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake the dough in greased and floured pans in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C).

  2. For a richer gingerbread, make 'Jiffy Icing' and spread it on the bread.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 to the crumb.
Shortening
Adds fat for a tender crumb and helps trap air when creamed with sugar.
Dark sorghum or new orleans molasses
Provides moisture, deep flavour and dark colour to the gingerbread.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acidity to lift and lighten the batter.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and caramel notes to the cake.

The step that matters

Adding the dry ingredients alternately with the boiling water. Alternating keeps the batter smooth and well emulsified, while the boiling water helps the baking soda react and the crumb stay moist. Adding everything at once can leave lumps or a dense texture.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, sorghum, flour, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, sorghum, flour, cinnamon, clove, 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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