Name: Sour Cream Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients: 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (chopped!); 1/2 cup walnuts (chopped!); 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1.75 cups sugar; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened; 3 eggs; 2 ripe bananas; 1 - 8 oz. container of sour cream; 3 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; a Bundt pan; perhaps more chocolate chips; a powerful mixer!

Why it works: Walnut and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,147 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. 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.

Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,147 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

Cinnamon and sugar 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

All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help it set into a firm, sliceable crumb.
Sour cream: Adds moisture and tenderness, and its acidity reacts with the leavening.
Unsalted butter: Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour cream to help the cake rise.
Bananas: Add moisture and natural sweetness to the crumb.

The step that matters

Beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Creaming beats air into the fat and sugar, which gives the cake lift and a fine, even crumb. Under-creamed butter leaves a denser cake.

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, walnut, cinnamon, sugar, butter, egg, cream):

Vanillafits better
Coconutfits better
Figfits better
Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, walnut, cinnamon, sugar, butter, egg, cream. 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
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Banana	1 medium (118g)	105
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

Sour Cream Banana Coffee Cake