Name: Orange Short Cake
Ingredients: 1 slice of orange; 1 scoop of ice cream; 2 small pieces of orange; 1 cherry

Why it works: Orange and cherry work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 689 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Orange Short Cake

Ingredients

1 slice of orange
1 scoop of ice cream
2 small pieces of orange
1 cherry

Directions

Cut the slice of orange into 8 parts, keeping it round.
Place the orange on a small plate.
Add a scoop of ice cream on top of the orange.
Place a small piece of orange on each side of the ice cream.
Top with a cherry.

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.

Orange + cherrytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together689 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Cream + cherrytop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together827 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Orange + creamtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,170 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Orange: Provides bright acidity and a juicy, fresh base that contrasts with the cold ice cream.
Ice cream: Adds cold, creamy richness and sweetness that balances the tart orange.