Name: Pink Cream
Ingredients: 1½ cups strawberry or currant juice; ½ pound powdered sugar; ½ pint thick cream

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 ↓

Pink Cream

Ingredients

1½ cups strawberry or currant juice
½ pound powdered sugar
½ pint thick cream

Directions

Mix the strawberry or currant juice with the powdered sugar and thick cream.
Whisk until well combined.
Serve in a glass dish.

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).
Strawberry + creamtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,525 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Strawberry + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,060 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Strawberry or currant juice: Provides the main liquid and the fruity flavour that gives the cream its pink colour and taste.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the mixture and dissolves easily into the juice and cream for a smooth texture.
Thick cream: Adds richness, body and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel to the juice.