Name: Mardi Gras King Cake
Ingredients: Pastry; 1 cup milk; 1/4 cup butter; 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast; 2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C); 1/2 cup white sugar; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 cup packed brown sugar; 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon; 2/3 cup chopped pecans; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup raisins; 1/2 cup melted butter; 1 cup confectioners' sugar (I used 2 cups); 1 tablespoon water (I used about 2 1/2 tablespoons total)

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,917 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cinnamon + pecanstop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,047 recipes

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

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the pecans

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

Almondbetter flavor fit
Chestnutbetter flavor fit
Pistachiobetter flavor fit
Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, egg, nutmeg, flour, cinnamon. 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).

Mardi Gras King Cake