Name: Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 18 min
Yield: 36
Ingredients: Cake; 2 sticks (1 Cup) Salted Butter, Softened; 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa Powder; 1 cup Boiling Water; 2 cups All-purpose Flour; 2 cups Sugar; 1/4 teaspoon Salt; 1/2 cup Buttermilk (or Whole Milk Mixed With 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar); 2 whole Eggs; 1 teaspoon Vanilla; 1 teaspoon Baking Soda; FROSTING; 2 sticks (1 Cup) Salted Butter, Softened; 5 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted; 40 whole Peppermint Candies, Crushed Very Fine; 3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream, More If Needed (use 3-5)

Why it works: Vanilla and peppermint work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 459 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. 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.

Vanilla + pepperminttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together459 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cocoa powder + vanillatop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,189 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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 peppermint

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Jalapenofits about as well
Peppermintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cocoa powder, flour, sugar, buttermilk, 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
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cake	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting