Name: Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 22 min
Yield: 22 cupcakes
Ingredients: 1¾ cups all-purpose flour; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ¾ teaspoon baking powder; ½ teaspoon salt; ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar; 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter; 3 eggs, at room temperature; ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ cup sour cream, at room temperature; ¾ cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts; 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature; 1/3 cup powdered sugar; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 cup creamy peanut butter; ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ cup heavy cream; ½ cup strawberry jelly or jam

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + cream cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,747 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Peanut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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 peanut

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

Almondfits better
Macadamia nutfits better
Hazelnutfits better
Peanutthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Strawberry	1 cup (152g)	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes