Name: Sour Cream Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups flour; 1 cup sour cream; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 2 eggs; ¼ teaspoon baking soda

Why it works: Flour and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,241 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Sour Cream Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then add the sour cream.
Combine the dry ingredients with the egg and sour cream mixture.
Stir in the vanilla extract.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased and floured cake pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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.

Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,241 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Vanilla + eggtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together27,347 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, helping the batter bind and set in the oven.
Sour cream: Adds moisture and a tender crumb, along with a mild tang.
Baking powder: Releases gas when heated, helping the cake rise and become light.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidity of the sour cream to help the cake rise and brown.