Name: Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients: 2 3/4 cups grated carrots; 1 cup puréed pineapple; 2 1/4 cup flour or cake flour; 1 1/2 cups sugar; 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1 tsp. baking powder; 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda; 4 eggs; 1 cup vegetable oil; 2 tsp. Cinnamon (Ground); 1/4 tsp. ground cloves; 1/4 tsp. salt; Frosting; 16 oz. cream cheese; 5 cups confectioner's sugar; 2 tsp. extract; Pre-heat oven to 350°F.; Grease and flour 2 9 inch cake pans

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. 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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together981 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as the cake bakes and sets.
Vegetable oil: Keeps the crumb moist and tender after cooling.
Flour: Forms the cake's structure once it sets in the oven.
Grated carrots: Add moisture and body to the crumb.
Pineapple purée: Adds moisture and natural sweetness to the batter.
Baking soda: Reacts with acidic ingredients to lift the batter and help it rise.

The step that matters

Cool completely before frosting. Frosting a warm cake melts the cream cheese frosting and makes it slide off or turn greasy. Cooling on a wire rack lets steam escape so the crumb sets firm enough to hold the frosting.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, flour, sugar, egg, cinnamon, clove, cream cheese):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Blueberryfits better
Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, flour, sugar, egg, cinnamon, clove, cream cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Pineapple	1 cup chunks (165g)	82
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cake	not in our table	0

Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting