Name: Cherry Diplomate
Ingredients: white cake, thinly sliced; maraschino or fine brandy; plain white ice cream; cherry ice cream; candied cherries; strawberry ice cream or plain vanilla ice cream

Why it works: Cherry and strawberry work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 217 recipes. Both carry ethyl pentanoate, which smells yeast, fruit. The science ↓

Cherry Diplomate

Ingredients

Directions

Line a mold with thinly sliced white cake dipped in maraschino or brandy.
Fill the mold with plain white ice cream.
Add a layer of cherry ice cream.
Next, add a layer of candied cherries.
Then, add another layer of cherry ice cream.
Follow with a layer of strawberry ice cream or plain vanilla ice cream.
Finish with another layer of cake, dipped in maraschino.
Cover tightly and pack in ice until ready to 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.

Cherry + strawberrytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together217 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
Cream + strawberrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,525 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Brandy + strawberrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together121 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,635 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Brandy + cherrytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).