Up-Side-Down Cake

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.

1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together81,283 recipes

   Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

2. Pineapple + datestop 11% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together53 recipes

   Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Pineapple + milktop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together885 recipes

   Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

5. Nuts + datestop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together178 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Self-rising flour

Provides the structure of the cake and, through its built-in leavening, helps it rise.

Butter

Adds richness and a tender crumb, and coats the sugar to help it caramelize.

Brown sugar

Adds sweetness and moisture, and melts into a caramel that becomes the topping.

Milk

Hydrates the flour to form a pourable batter that sets during baking.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, pineapple, milk, dates):

1. Almondfits better
2. Chestnutfits better
3. Pecansfits better
4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, pineapple, milk, dates. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.