Name: Drop Cakes
Ingredients: 3 egg whites; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 cups corn flakes; 1 cup shredded coconut

Why it works: Corn and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 306 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Drop Cakes

Ingredients

3 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups corn flakes
1 cup shredded coconut

Directions

Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the granulated sugar while continuing to beat.
Fold in the corn flakes and shredded coconut.
Drop by teaspoon onto buttered baking sheets.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Corn + coconuttop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together306 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,168 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + coconuttop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,742 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg + corntop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,484 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).