Name: Apple Cake with Black Cherries
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 stick Unsalted Butter; ¾ cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Sugar, Divided Use; 2 whole Eggs; 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream; ½ cups Greek Yogurt; 1 cup All-purpose Flour; ½ teaspoons Salt; 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder; 1 cup Pitted Black Cherries In Syrup; 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon; ½ whole Lemon Juice; 1 whole Granny Smith Apple; 1 Tablespoon Butter (for The Baking Pan); 2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. 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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 cinnamon

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

Cinnamonthe original
Nutmegfits about as well
Jalapenofits less well
Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, cream, yogurt, flour, syrup. 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
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Cherry	1 cup (138g)	87
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Syrup	not in our table	0

Apple Cake with Black Cherries