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Dessert

Chocolate Cake I

A chocolate cake made with sugar, butter, sour milk, baking soda, eggs, flour, baking powder, grated chocolate, egg whites, confectioner's sugar, 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 I

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the cake

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Mix the sour milk with the baking soda and add to the creamed mixture.

  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

  5. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the mixture.

  6. Dissolve the grated chocolate in a small amount of hot water and add to the batter.

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

Make the frosting and finish

  1. For the frosting, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar and continue to beat until smooth.

  3. Fold in grated chocolate and vanilla to taste, then frost the cooled 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. 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
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as it sets in the oven.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter and tenderize the crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to add lift and a lighter texture.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whipped egg whites trap air and hold the frosting's volume and smooth texture. Under-beaten whites stay loose, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy.

“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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