Name: Cake
Ingredients: black cake; currants; almonds; 2 teaspoons pulverized cochineal; 1 teaspoon alum; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1 cup hot water

Why it works: Almond and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,130 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓

Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Chop the black cake with a knife, but not too fine.
Brown the flour for the black cake.
To cleanse currants, wash them in several warm waters and drain until clear.
Spread the currants out to dry on a sieve or cloth.
For easier cleansing, place currants in a bag made of double mosquito-netting, tie it to a faucet, and let water run through until clear.
Blanch almonds by pouring boiling water over them, then rub off the skins.
Chop the almonds a little, then roll them with a rolling pin on a marble slab, sprinkling sugar underneath to reduce oil absorption.
For cochineal coloring, mix 2 teaspoons pulverized cochineal, 1 teaspoon alum, and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar in 1 cup hot water. Bottle and cork for future use.

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.

Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,130 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Currant + almondtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,659 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Currant + creamtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,829 recipes