Why it works: Cream and almond 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 ↓
Tipsy Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Soften and thoroughly moisten the cakes.
Make a rich custard by mixing the yolks of 4 eggs with 1 pint of milk and 1 cup of cream.
Pour the hot custard over the cakes.
Stick each cake full of blanched almonds and set aside to cool.
Whip the egg whites and spread over the tops of the cakes.
Whip 1 pint of cream and spread over the top.
Decorate with Maraschino cherries before serving.
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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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, cream):
- Pecansfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Walnutfits about as well
- Cocoafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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