Rum+Popcorn+Vanilla=Cake Flavour

Though we often think the flavour of commercial cake mixes or cake icing is just vanilla, it is, in fact, a modification of vanilla. The two compounds that are mixed with vanilla to give this unique taste are Rum Ether and Popcorn Pyrazine (2-Acetyl Pyrazine). The combination works better than plain vanilla.

When formulating this, you want the vanilla notes to be present, so we will use a lot of vanilla, but modifying it with the popcorn pyrazine is done at low levels. I've dialed in this formula to be in the middle of the range listed by FEMA at 2.5 ppm per litre (FEMA max is 5 ppm). The popcorn note is quite obvious, so if you want, you can dial it back a bit, though I quite like this formula as is.

You can use this in food or drinks. If you want to make an icing recipe with it, simply add one to two drops (maybe more) for every 100 grams of the icing. A quick look found a recipe that weighs roughly 600 grams, so 6 to 12 drops should work (0.15 to 0.3 mL up to 0.5 mL) in volumetric measurements. I would recommend adjusting any additional vanilla added to the icing or removing it. But as always, taste as you go. And you can even add this to the cake batter in a similar manner as this is how commercial products are made. You can see natural or artificial flavours listed on the box, and this is often what they are.

Cake Flavour

16.0 g Vanillin = 4 mg/drop (FEMA AVG: 35 ppm)
4.0 g Ethyl Vanillin = 1 mg/drop (FEMA AVG: 20 to 100 ppm)
2.0 g Dihydrocoumarin = 0.5 mg/drop (FEMA AVG: 25 ppm)
8.0 g Rum Ether = 2 mg/drop (FEMA AVG: 65 to 80 ppm)
1.0 g 2-Acetyl Pyrazine 0.25 mg/drop (FEMA AVG: 5 ppm)
69 g Ethanol or Propylene Glycol*

Total: 100 g      

* The FEMA average is per kilogram, so 35 ppm would be 35 mg per kilo. At 4 mg per drop, 10 drops in a kilo (litre) of beverage, icing, or batter would equal 40 mg.

** Depending on the solvent and the size of your dropper, your drop size may vary. When using mostly alcohol, I find my average drop size is ~25 mg, but with propylene glycol, it could go up to 40 or 50, so if you are using PG, check your drop size and adjust accordingly.

Modifications

As always, my goal is to give you the basic formula and then some tips to enhance or twist the flavour. This is actually the fun part of working with flavours, and I strongly encourage you to play around because it will help you understand how one compound can modify the flavours of all the others in a formula.

Acetoin or Diacetyl 10% will add a buttery flavour, which will obviously work with cake. You can add a few drops to the concentrate or even up to a gram, though the butter flavour may dominate at the higher levels.

Whisky Lactone (or other lactones): Lactones are just a form of ester, and they often have a coumarin, coconut and slightly burnt/toasty note and note really whisky because these compounds come from the oak barrel. This works well, as the popcorn pyrazine is actually a roasted/toasted note and since we are using rum ether, the whisky lactone will complement it.

Rum P. Jungle Essence is the magical CO2 extracted rum essence. It smells fantastic but is quite expensive. In the future, I will be making a fantastic non-alcoholic Hot Buttered Rum using this extract and the CO2 extracted butter essence from MANE as well.

Anyway, if you have questions, post them below.