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Vasilopita

"This is our family's New Year's cake. A coin is baked in the cake, and the person who finds the coin in their slice is has good luck for the year; they also get a prize."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Vasilopita

Why it works: Almond and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 203 recipes. Both carry acetylpyrazine, which smells roast. The science ↓

Vasilopita

1 - 10 inch tube cake
Prep30 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

823Calories
20 gProtein
32 gFat
109 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together203 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  2. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, 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 sesame

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

  1. Macadamia nutfits better
  2. Pistachiofits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Sesamethe original

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