Name: Tchoupitoulas Mission
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 cup sugar; 1 teaspoon dixie baking powder together; 3 cups flour; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 3 teaspoons dixie baking- powder; 2 cups pulverized sug-ar; 2 cups milk; 2 cups of sugar; two-thirds cup of butter; 3 cups of flour; 1 cup of nuts; 1 pound flour; 1 pound sug-ar; 1 cup sweet milk; 3 pounds hulled pecans; 1 teaspoon dixie baking- powder; 4 teaspoon dixie baking- powder; 1 tablespoon cold water; one cup of hot water; 1 tablespoon of cornstach; 1 cup of white sug-ar; 1 tablespoon of butter; 1 cup of butter; 1 tablespoonful of dixie baking powder; 3 eggs into; 4 layers; 30 whole to put on the top; 5 egg-s; 1 full cup of pulverized sug-ar to- g-ether untihvery stiff

Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. 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 + milktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Vanilla + nutstop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together638 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Vanilla + pecanstop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,691 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

Eggs: Provide structure and lift to the batter as they are beaten in.
Flour: Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps give the cake a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Beat the batter only until smooth. Overbeating develops gluten in the flour, which makes a sponge cake tough and dense. Stopping once the batter is smooth keeps the air incorporated from the eggs light and the texture delicate.

Swap the nuts

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

Almondfits better
Hazelnutfits better
Macadamia nutfits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, vanilla, milk, butter, pecans, 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Water	not in our table	0
Cake	not in our table	0

Tchoupitoulas Mission