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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with a chocolate filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar, mixing well.

  3. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.

  5. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with flour.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Make and spread the filling

  1. For the filling, boil the grated chocolate, sugar, and milk for about 5 minutes.

  2. Allow the filling to cool, then spread it on the cake.

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
Adds fat and richness, and creaming with sugar traps air for a tender crumb.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during baking to give the cake structure.
Flour
Forms the cake's main structure as its proteins set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake, tenderizes the crumb, and helps the crust brown.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and loosens the batter.

The step that matters

Alternating the flour mixture and milk. Adding the flour in portions, starting and ending with flour, keeps the batter smooth and balanced. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.

“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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