Name: Cream Layer Cake
Ingredients: 1 scant cup of sugar; 1½ cups of flour; a pinch of salt; ½ teaspoon of baking soda; or ½ teaspoon of baking powder if sweet cream is used; soft frosting for layering

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Cream Layer Cake

Ingredients

1 scant cup of sugar
1½ cups of flour
a pinch of salt
½ teaspoon of baking soda
or ½ teaspoon of baking powder if sweet cream is used
soft frosting for layering

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.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda (or baking powder).
Prepare three cake pans and pour the batter evenly into each.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the layers cool, then layer them with soft frosting.

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).