Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Watermelon Cake
Ingredients
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.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Fill a cake pan one-third full with white or silver cake batter.
Color the remaining batter pink with fruit coloring and fill the pan two-thirds full.
Add washed and dried currants near the top of the batter.
Bake until done.
Ice the cake with white icing streaked with spinach green and flavor with vanilla.
Make the pink batter deep in color to resemble ripe watermelon.
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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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Spinach + vanillatop 16% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together83 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Currant + vanillatop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together514 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
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Currant + spinachtop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (currant, vanilla, sugar):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against currant, vanilla, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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