Name: Hazel-nut Cake.
Ingredients: 1 pound sugar; 12 ounces powdered hazel-nuts; 4 ounces flour; 6 ounces butter; 1 ounce vanilla sugar; milk; red currant jelly; fondant icing (flavored with Kirsch-water)

Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Hazel-nut Cake.

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.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar over gentle heat until lukewarm, then remove and continue whisking until light.
Stir in the hazel-nuts, then the flour and melted butter, mixing well.
Pour the mixture into a square cake mold and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Once cooled, layer the cake with red currant jelly between each layer and on top.
Ice the cake with fondant icing and decorate as desired.

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.

Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Nuts + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together638 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla + red curranttop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Swap the red currant

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

Figfits better
Raisinfits better
Coconutfits better
Red currantthe original

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