Name: Variegated Creams
Ingredients: French Cream; cochineal syrup; finely grated chocolate; butter; alcohol

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Variegated Creams

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the French Cream and divide it into three parts: one white, one pink with cochineal syrup, and one brown with chocolate.
To color the pink cream, add a few drops of cochineal syrup while warm and beat it in.
For the brown cream, stir in finely grated chocolate until well combined.
Shape the white cream into a flat ball and press it into a buttered dish until about ½ inch thick.
If the cream is difficult to work with, dip your hands in alcohol.
Repeat the process with the pink cream, layering it on top of the white cream.
Layer the brown cream on top of the pink cream, pressing all layers together.
Trim the edges to create a smooth square cake, then cut into slices or small cubes.

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.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,466 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + chocolatetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,239 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,543 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).