Name: Iced Pudding Flavoured with Chocolate
Ingredients: 3 egg whites; 1 ounce finely sifted sugar; slices of cake (1/8 inch thick, 1.5 inches wide); circular piece of cake (size of the bottom of the mould); chocolate ice 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 ↓

Iced Pudding Flavoured with Chocolate

Ingredients

3 egg whites
1 ounce finely sifted sugar
slices of cake (1/8 inch thick, 1.5 inches wide)
circular piece of cake (size of the bottom of the mould)
chocolate ice cream

Directions

Cut cake slices to fit the depth of the mould.
Make a cement with egg whites and sugar.
Arrange cake slices around the side of the mould, overlapping slightly.
Cement the slices together and attach the circular piece at the bottom.
Let the cement dry until firm.

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).
Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,466 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).