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Dessert

Chocolate Cake II

A layered chocolate cake with a chocolate filling made from melted chocolate, milk, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla.

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 Cake II

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 custard

  1. Combine 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup grated chocolate, and ½ cup sweet milk in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until thickened like custard.

Make the batter and bake

  1. Once cooled, mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup softened butter, ½ cup sweet milk, 3 eggs, 2 cups all-purpose flour, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.

  2. Divide the batter into two layers and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.

Make the filling and assemble

  1. For the filling, melt 3 ounces chocolate in a double boiler.

  2. Stir in ½ cup milk and ½ cup sugar until smooth.

  3. Add the yolk of 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla to the chocolate mixture, cool, and spread between the cake layers.

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. Milk + buttertop 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter's acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer mouthfeel.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
Chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and deep color in the cake and filling.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk to the filling. If the chocolate mixture is still hot, the yolk can scramble and turn grainy. Letting it cool first keeps the filling smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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