Cream-filled Fudge Cupcakes

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.

1. Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together357 recipes

   Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together35,032 recipes

   Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

3. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together19,241 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together106,462 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Shortening

Adds fat that creams with sugar to trap air and give a tender crumb.

Eggs

Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.

Flour

Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.

Cocoa

Provides the chocolate flavor and dark color of the cake.

Baking soda

Reacts with acidic ingredients to release gas that helps the cake rise.

Sugar

Sweetens the cake and helps create a fluffy, aerated batter when creamed.

The step that matters

Swap the cocoa

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

1. Almondfits better
2. Chestnutfits better
3. Macadamia nutfits better
4. Cocoathe original

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