Name: Richer Cup; Or, 1, 2, 3, 4 Cake
Ingredients: one cup of butter; one half teaspoonful of vanilla; four eggs

Why it works: Butter and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and 20,050 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Richer Cup; Or, 1, 2, 3, 4 Cake

Ingredients

one cup of butter
one half teaspoonful of vanilla
four eggs

Directions

Use one cup of butter, two of sugar, three of flour, and four eggs, and one half teaspoonful of vanilla. Mix as directed for butter-cake mixtures (page 465).

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together20,050 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Vanilla + eggtop 23% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together27,347 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Vanilla and egg share little aroma chemistry, yet 27,347 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the vanilla

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

Lemonabout as good a flavor fit
Vanillathe original
Coconutabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).