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Dessert

Fruit Gingerbread

A moist gingerbread cake with raisins, currants, molasses, and spices.

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

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fruit Gingerbread

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 butter and sugar together.

  2. Warm the molasses slightly, then beat it into the butter and sugar mixture.

  3. Add the beaten egg yolks.

  4. Add the sour cream and spices.

  5. Mix in the dissolved baking soda, flour, and whipped egg whites.

  6. Fold in the dredged fruit and beat well before baking.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into two broad pans.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until done.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and lift through the yolks and whipped whites.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb when creamed with sugar.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and deep sweetness to the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to help the cake rise.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Mix in the dissolved baking soda, flour, and whipped egg whites. Baking soda needs to be fully dissolved and mixed in evenly so it reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses. Folding in the whipped whites gently keeps the air they hold, which helps the cake rise.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Currantthe original

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