Name: Caramel Cake
Ingredients: 3 cups flour; 3 teaspoons caramel; 1 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup cold water; two cups light-brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1 teacup dark-brown sugar until it smokes; 2 teacup of boiling water

Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Caramel Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Miss Naomi E. Hurm.
Y\ cup butter, scant. . 2 eggs.
teaspoons baking powder. more, to taste.
Heat 1 teacup dark-brown sugar until it smokes. Add l/2 teacup of boiling water. Will keep indefinitely.
Two cups light-brown sugar ; enough milk to moisten the sugar ; a lump of butter. Cook as for fudge ; let cool until almost cold. Beat to creamy mass; add enough boiling water to make it the consistency of icing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

582Calories

19 gProtein

6 gFat

108 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Water	not in our table	0
Smoke	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

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 + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).