Name: Mountain Ash Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 1 cup butter; 3 whole eggs; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup sweet milk; 3 cups flour; vanilla (to taste); 1 orange (for icing); 1 pound powdered sugar (for icing)

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Mountain Ash Cake

Ingredients

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the baking powder, sweet milk, and flour until just combined.
Add vanilla to taste.
Divide the batter evenly between two greased cake pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For the filling, grate the orange and mix it with the powdered sugar to make orange icing.
Once the cakes are cool, ice the first layer with the orange icing.
Make a white icing and spread it over the orange icing on the first layer.
Stack the second layer on top and serve.

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,371 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, vanilla):

Figfits better
Raisinfits better
Coconutfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.