Name: Caramel Cake, Potato
Ingredients: two-thirds cup butter; one cup mashed potatoes rubbed through colander; two-thirds cup sweet milk; two cups flour; two ounces melted chocolate; one cup english walnuts chopped; one cup seeded raisins; four well beaten eggs; one small teaspoon each cinnamon; one small grated nutmeg

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Potato + walnuttop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together342 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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 crumb.
Mashed potatoes: Adds moisture and a soft, dense texture to the cake.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help set the structure as it bakes.
Flour: Forms the structure of the cake as it bakes.
Melted chocolate: Adds flavor and deep color to the cake.

The step that matters

Do not move the cake while it is in oven.. Moving the cake while it bakes can jolt the batter before its structure has set, causing it to sink or become uneven in texture.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, flour, chocolate, walnut, raisin, egg):

Sweet potatofits about as well
Arrowrootfits about as well
Shallotfits about as well
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, flour, chocolate, walnut, raisin, egg. 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
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

Caramel Cake, Potato