Why it works: Currant and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,323 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Wine Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Spread a layer of currant jelly on the first layer of cake.
Cover it with a second layer of cake.
Make the icing as directed in the Wine Icing recipe.
Set the cake aside to harden.
Transfer to a plate lined with fancy-cut paper and serve.
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.
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Currant + winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,323 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
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Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Grapefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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