Name: Sally White Cake
Ingredients: 2 grated coconuts; 1½ pounds citron, cut fine; 2 pounds almonds, cut fine; ⅓ cup brandy; ½ teaspoon mace; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon rose-water

Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Sally White Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make a batter as for pound cake.
Add the grated coconuts, citron, and almonds mixed with the citron and coconut.
Stir in the brandy, mace, cinnamon, and rose-water.
Bake as you would a fruit cake.

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.

Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,514 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,093 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Coconut + cinnamontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together979 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, almond, brandy, cinnamon, rose):

Cardamomfits better
Nutmegfits better
Clovefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, almond, brandy, cinnamon, rose. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.