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Dessert

Chocolate Sugar Cakes

Chocolate sugar cakes are sweet baked cakes topped with a chocolate frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Chocolate Sugar Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the sweet milk, baking powder, and vanilla, mixing well.

  4. Gradually add flour until a soft dough forms.

  5. Roll out the dough to ½ inch thick on a floured surface.

  6. Cut with a cookie cutter and place on a baking sheet.

Bake and frost

  1. Bake for 20 minutes.

  2. For the frosting, boil 1 cup of sugar and the square of chocolate in a little water until it reaches a hair stage.

  3. Stir the mixture into the partly beaten egg whites and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

  4. Spread the frosting over the cooled cakes.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. 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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with the sugar to add tenderness and richness to the cakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the dough so the cakes rise and become light.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the soft dough and baked cakes together.
Egg whites
Beaten into the frosting to give it a light, airy texture.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cakes and, boiled for the frosting, forms the frosting's base.

The step that matters

Stirring the boiled sugar syrup into the egg whites. The syrup must reach the hair stage so it sets to a stable frosting. Pouring it in too fast or while it is too cool can leave the frosting runny or cause the whites to deflate and lose their airy structure.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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