Name: Frosting
Ingredients: cold water; sweet cream; vinegar; flour; stiff paper

Why it works: Cream and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓

Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Dip the knife frequently in cold water while frosting the cake.
Frost the cake when it is warm to ensure adherence.
Dust the cake with flour, then rub it off to help the frosting stick.
Add 1 tablespoon of sweet cream to the frosting to prevent crumbling.
Alternatively, add 1 teaspoon of vinegar to achieve the same effect.
Place a rim of stiff paper around the cake to hold the frosting in place until it sets.

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 + flourtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Cream + vinegartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,064 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,652 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).