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Mom's Margarine Cake

"I searched and searched for this recipe on the web. Never did find it. Luckily, I found a scrap of paper with the instructions scribbled on it! This is the best cake! Mom used to make it all the time as we were growing up."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Mom's Margarine Cake

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 35,032 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Mom's Margarine Cake

1 - 9 inch tube cake
Prep10 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

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

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

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

  2. Sugar + evaporated milktop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 lemon

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

  1. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  2. Raisinbetter flavor fit
  3. Bananabetter flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, flour, evaporated milk. 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).