Name: Marshmallow Cake
Ingredients: 1 angel food cake; 1 cup marshmallows, broken into small pieces; 1 cup heavy whipping cream; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; pink marshmallows, for decoration; white marshmallows, for decoration; candied cherries, for decoration; candied pineapple, for decoration

Why it works: Vanilla and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Marshmallow Cake

Ingredients

1 angel food cake
1 cup marshmallows, broken into small pieces
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pink marshmallows, for decoration
white marshmallows, for decoration
candied cherries, for decoration
candied pineapple, for decoration

Directions

Prepare the filling

Cut the angel food cake in half to form two layers.
In a bowl, mix the broken marshmallows with whipped cream, sugar, and vanilla until well combined.

Fill and cover

Spread about 2 inches of the marshmallow filling on the bottom layer of the cake.
Replace the top layer of the cake and cover the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream.

Decorate

Decorate the cake with alternating pieces of pink and white marshmallows, candied cherries, and candied pineapple until fully covered.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Vanilla + pineappletop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together911 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar + pineappletop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla 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

What each ingredient does

Angel food cake: Provides a light, airy, tender crumb as the base of the cake.
Marshmallows: Add sweetness and a soft, sticky body to the cream filling.
Heavy whipping cream: Adds richness and moisture, and its whipped air gives a light texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the cream filling and balances the richness of the cream.
Vanilla extract: Adds aroma that rounds out the sweetness of the filling.