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1-2-3-4 Cake

By epicurious · From Open Recipes · 13 ingredients
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1-2-3-4 Cake

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,634 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

1-2-3-4 Cake

Makes one 3-layer cake; 12 servings

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,032 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, lemon):

  1. Figbetter flavor fit
  2. Blackberrybetter flavor fit
  3. Blueberrybetter flavor fit
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).