Why it works: Pineapple and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 651 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pine-apple Cake
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).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk.
Bake and assemble
Pour the batter into greased jelly tins.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once cooled, layer the cake with grated pineapple and coconut.
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.
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Pineapple + coconuttop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together651 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,648 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and binding, helping the cake set as it bakes.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with baking soda to leaven the batter and stabilise it.
- Grated pineapple
- Adds moisture, fruity acidity and flavour to the finished cake.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk. Adding dry ingredients in portions, alternating with liquid, keeps the batter emulsified and prevents overmixing. Overmixing develops gluten and can make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, milk, egg, cream, coconut):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, milk, egg, cream, coconut. 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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