Rock Cakes

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 + buttertop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together106,462 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,227 recipes

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

5. Currant + buttertop 17% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together7,856 recipes

   Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

Flour and butter 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

Eggs

Bind the dough and add richness and structure as they set in the oven.

Flour

Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.

Baking powder

Releases gas during baking so the cakes rise and become light.

Butter

Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, used only in the optional larger batch.

Sugar

Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.

Currants

Add small pockets of fruit sweetness and chew throughout the cakes.

Swap the currant

The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, lemon, butter):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, lemon, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.