Name: Cocoa-nut Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup grated coconut; 1 cup sugar; 3 egg whites

Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cocoa-nut Cakes

Ingredients

1 cup grated coconut
1 cup sugar
3 egg whites

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and shape the mixture

In a bowl, combine grated coconut, sugar, and egg whites. Mix until well combined.
Scoop the mixture and shape it into pieces the size of half a dollar.
Place on buttered baking sheets.

Bake

Bake until lightly golden.

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 + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Coconut + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,742 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Coconut + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,090 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Grated coconut: Provides the main body and chewy texture of the cakes.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.
Egg whites: Bind the coconut and sugar together and help the cakes hold their shape.