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Banana Split Cake

This recipe arose from a coffee cake meets banana split idea. The topping is slightly crisp with a surprise gooey middle waiting to be discovered. If you really want to make this like a banana split, while hot, top with a nice scoop of ice cream and drizzle with caramel and chocolate sauce. Yum!

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and cocoa powder match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,587 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 12
Prep15 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

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

By tastykitchen. 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. Chocolate + cocoa powdertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,587 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Walnut + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Walnut + chocolatetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Cinnamon + cocoa powdertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together331 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 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 walnut

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

  1. Almondbetter flavor fit
  2. Hazelnutabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Pecansabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, flour, cocoa powder, butter, egg. 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).