Name: Zucchini-Pecan Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: Makes 10 servings
Ingredients: Nonstick vegetable oil spray; 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 3/4 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin); 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar; 3 large eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (about 8 ounces); 3/4 cup chopped pecans; 1/2 8-ounce package Philadelphia brand cream cheese (do not use reduced-fat or fat-free), room temperature; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature; 3/4 cup powdered sugar; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Swap the ginger

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

Cardamomfits better
Clovefits better
Allspicefits better
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, olive, sugar, egg, vanilla. 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
Pecans	1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)	196
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Zucchini-Pecan Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting