Skip to main content
Dessert

Caramel Cake, No. 2

A layered cake with a caramel glaze made from brown sugar, molasses, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Caramel Cake, No. 2

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cake

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

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

  3. Add the milk, flour, eggs, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Mix until smooth.

  4. Pour the batter into prepared cake pans.

  5. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the caramel

  1. For the caramel, combine brown sugar, milk, molasses, butter, flour, and cold water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes.

  3. Add the grated chocolate.

  4. Continue boiling until the mixture thickens to a custard-like consistency.

  5. Stir in a pinch of baking soda.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. Once cooled, add vanilla.

Assemble and dry

  1. Spread the caramel between the layers of the cake and on top.

  2. Let the cake sit in a sunny window to dry.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness to the batter as they set when baked.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, helping the leavening react and stabilizing the structure.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness to the caramel.

The step that matters

Boiling the caramel until it thickens. Boiling concentrates the sugars and milk solids, so the mixture thickens as it cools. Removing it too early leaves a runny filling, while overcooking can make it stiff or scorched.

“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.

More caramel cake recipes

Chocolate 16Filling 11Potato 9Maple 4 See all 114 →

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipes