Why it works: Chocolate and pecans work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 804 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Nut Cake Recipe
Serves 8Ingredients
Directions
Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Walnut | 1 walnut half (4g) | 26 |
| Pecan | 1 half (4g) | 20 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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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Chocolate + pecanstop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the pecans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, flour, sugar, egg, cream):
- Almondfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Pecansthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, flour, sugar, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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