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Dessert

Chocolate Jelly Cake

A chocolate-flavored layered sponge cake with a chocolate mixture spread between layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Jelly Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cake

  1. Bake a sponge cake in jelly tins or moulds according to your favorite recipe.

  2. Slice the cake into layers.

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, combine milk, grated chocolate, beaten egg, sugar, and vanilla.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.

Assemble

  1. Spread the chocolate mixture evenly between the layers of 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

Sponge cake
Provides the light, airy base that holds the layers together.
Egg
Thickens the chocolate mixture as it cooks and sets the filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the filling and keeps it creamy.
Chocolate
Gives the filling its flavour and rich colour.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling until it thickens. The beaten egg can scramble if the heat is too high or the mixture is not stirred constantly. Stirring over medium heat lets the egg proteins thicken the milk evenly into a smooth filling.

“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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