Name: Apple Dainties
Ingredients: 8 large apples; light syrup (for cooking apples); sponge cake (enough for 8 round pieces, 1 inch thick); sugar (for sprinkling); currant jelly (½ cup); preserved greengages (for topping)

Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Apple Dainties

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

8 large apples
light syrup (for cooking apples)
sponge cake (enough for 8 round pieces, 1 inch thick)
sugar (for sprinkling)
currant jelly (½ cup)
preserved greengages (for topping)

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the apples

Pare and core the apples.
Cook the apples in a light syrup until tender.
Drain the apples on a sieve.

Assemble and glaze

Cut the sponge cake into 8 round pieces, each 1 inch thick.
Sprinkle sugar over the sponge cake pieces.
Glaze the sponge cake pieces in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Place the cooked apples on the glazed sponge cakes.
Top each apple with a preserved greengage.

Finish and serve

Reduce the syrup with the currant jelly.
Pour the reduced syrup over the apples.
Serve.

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.

Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + syruptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together742 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,256 recipes

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

What each ingredient does

Apples: Provide the main fruit body that softens during cooking and forms the dessert's centre.
Sponge cake: Forms the soft, absorbent base that holds the apple and soaks up syrup.
Currant jelly: Reduced into the syrup to add gel-like body, fruity sweetness and a glossy finish.
Sugar: Sprinkled on the sponge cake, where it caramelises and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Glaze the sponge cake pieces in a 350°F (175°C) oven. Sugar browns and caramelises under dry oven heat, so the cake needs enough time to set a golden glaze without burning. Too little heat leaves it pale, too much scorches the sugar before the cake is through.