Name: Peach Coffee Cake
Ingredients: Topping; 1/2 cup uncooked oats; 2 tbs. flour; 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar; 1/2 tsp. cinnamon; 3 tbs. butter or margarine, cut up; 1/2 cup chopped pecans; confections sugar (optional); Cake; 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour; 1 1/2 tsps. baking powder; 1/2 tsps. baking soda; 1/4 tsp. salt; 6 tbs. butter or margarine, softened; 2/3 cup granulated Sugar; 2 large eggs; 1 tsp. vanilla; 1/2 pint (1 cup) sour cream; 1 1/4 pounds peaches, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (2 cups)

Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla 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.

Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Oats + pecanstop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together289 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Oats + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,532 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Oats + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Cinnamon + pecanstop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,047 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds richness and tenderness to the cake and crumbly texture to the streusel.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
All purpose flour: Provides the main structure of the cake and the streusel.
Sour cream: Adds moisture and tang, and tenderizes the crumb.
Baking powder: Releases gas to lift the batter so the cake rises.
Peaches: Add moisture and fruity sweetness that bakes into the cake.

The step that matters

Beat just until combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Overmixing after adding the dry ingredients makes the cake tough and dense instead of tender.

Swap the pecans

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

Almondfits better
Flaxseedfits about as well
Chestnutfits about as well
Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, egg, vanilla. 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
Pecans	1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)	196
Oat	1/2 cup dry (40g)	154
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Peach	1 medium (150g)	59
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Topping	not in our table	0
Cake	not in our table	0

Peach Coffee Cake