Name: Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake
Prep time: 3 h
Cook time: 32 min
Yield: 12 to 14 servings
Ingredients: 2½ cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 3 cups granulated sugar; 1 cup + 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder; 1 tablespoon baking soda; 1½ teaspoons baking powder; 1½ teaspoons salt; 3 eggs, at room temperature; 1½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature; 1½ cups strong black coffee, hot; ¾ cup vegetable oil; 4½ teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 cups powdered sugar; 2 cups creamy peanut butter; 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract; ½ teaspoon kosher salt; ⅔ cup heavy cream; 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped; ¾ cup heavy cream; 30 miniature peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped, divided

Why it works: Cocoa powder and coffee work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 541 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. 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.

Cocoa powder + coffeetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together541 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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).
Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,391 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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, sugar, cocoa powder, egg, buttermilk, coffee, vanilla):

Hazelnutfits better
Almondfits better
Cocoafits better
Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, cocoa powder, egg, buttermilk, coffee, 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
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
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
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Coffee	not in our table	0

Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake