Why it works: Coconut and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cocoanut Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the grated coconut, sugar, butter, flour, grated lemon, and eggs until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Make the icing
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add the powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, while continuing to beat.
Flavor the icing with lemon or vanilla extract.
Finish
Once the cakes are cool, spread the icing on top.
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.
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Coconut + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Coconut + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,233 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the cake structure as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender texture.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the cake together.
- Coconut
- Adds moisture, body and its own sweet, rich flavor to the cake.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to stiff peaks, they give the icing its light, airy structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the icing and helps it hold its body when beaten into the whites.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks before sugar is added gradually. Under-beaten whites stay runny and the icing will not hold; over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, lemon, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, lemon, 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.
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