Name: Bahamian Carrot Cake
Ingredients: 1 lb carrots grated; 2 cups Granulated Sugar; 2 cups oil; 6 eggs; 3 cups flour; 1 tsp Clove Powder; 1 tsp ginger; 1/2 tsp pimento; 1/2 tsp salt; 2 tsp Baking Powder; 1 tsp Baking Soda; 1 cup walnuts; 1 cup raisins; 1 tablespoon vanilla; 2 tsp cinnamon

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Carrot + gingertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Clove + walnuttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,592 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 and richness as they set in the oven.
Oil: Keeps the crumb moist and tender after baking.
Flour: Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and stay moist.
Baking soda: Reacts with acidic ingredients to help the cake rise.
Carrots: Add moisture and body to the crumb.

The step that matters

Mix well, then bake for about 1 hour. Overmixing after the flour is combined can develop gluten and make the cake tough, while underbaking leaves the center wet and collapsed. Check doneness before removing the cake from the oven.

Swap the walnut

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

Chestnutfits better
Almondfits better
Chickpeafits better
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, sugar, egg, flour, clove, ginger, raisin. 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
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pimento	not in our table	0

Bahamian Carrot Cake