Name: World Recipe Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients: 1/4 cup of corn-oil margarine; 1/2 cup of sugar; 1/2 cup of liquid egg substitute; 1 cup of light sour cream; 1 tsp. of baking soda; 1 tsp. of vanilla; 1and1/2 cups of flour; 1and 1/2 tsp. of baking powder; 1/2 cup of walnuts; 1/4 cup of sugar; 2 tsp. of cinnamon

Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. 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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,147 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Corn + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sour cream: Adds moisture and tenderness to the crumb along with its tang.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Baking soda: Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to add lift and a tender texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps brown the top and keep it moist.
Corn-oil margarine: Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda to the sour cream. Baking soda needs an acid to react with and release gas; mixing it into the acidic sour cream before combining activates its lift, so the batter should be baked soon after mixing to keep that rise.

Swap the walnut

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

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits better
Hazelnutfits better
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, sugar, egg, cream, vanilla, flour, cinnamon. 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
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg Substitute	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

World Recipe Coffee Cake Recipe