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Dessert

Chocolate-cake

A butter and sugar cake with a chocolate glaze between layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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.

Make the cake batter

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

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

  3. Add the flour, milk, and beaten eggs, mixing well.

  4. Stir in the baking soda and cream of tartar (or baking powder).

Bake and prepare the filling

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the chocolate mixture, combine grated chocolate with enough cream or milk to wet it.

  3. Add sugar and a beaten egg, then stir over low heat until mixed.

  4. Flavor the chocolate mixture with vanilla.

Assemble

  1. Once the cake is baked, cut it in half or into layers.

  2. Spread the chocolate mixture between the layers and on top and sides of 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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, giving the cake a tender crumb.
Eggs
Provide structure as they set, and help bind and enrich the batter.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the recipe to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Cream of tartar or baking powder
Supplies acid or leavening that helps the cake rise and keeps its texture light.
Grated chocolate
Gives the frosting its chocolate flavor and body.

The step that matters

Stirring the baking soda and cream of tartar into the batter. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release gas. Once mixed in, the batter should go into the pan and into the oven promptly, because the rising gas escapes if the batter waits.

“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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Filling 18French 14Marbled 13Black 11Dark 10Marble 7 See all 565 →

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