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Dessert

Cocoa Cake

A cocoa-based cake with margarine, sugar substitute, egg whites, and spices, suitable for diabetics.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cocoa Cake

16 servings
Time30-35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Mix together cocoa and boiling water to blend and set aside to cool to room temperature.

  2. Cream margarine at medium speed until light and fluffy.

  3. Add sweetener and vanilla to creamed mixture, along with cooled cocoa mixture. Mix at medium speed until well blended.

  4. Beat egg whites at medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed, gradually adding sugar, to form a meringue. Set aside for later use.

  5. Stir together flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to blend well.

  6. Add 1 cup water to creamed mixture along with flour mixture. Beat at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until well blended.

Bake

  1. Stir batter carefully into pans that have been greased with margarine and lined on the bottom with wax paper.

  2. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean from the center of the cake and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.

  3. Turn cake out onto a cake cooler, remove the paper, and cool to room temperature.

Assemble and serve

  1. Put diabetic jelly between the cake layers and frost at the last minute with fluffy frosting.

  2. Cut cake into 16 equal servings.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

794Calories
21 gProtein
21 gFat
128 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cocoa + cinnamontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together74 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Cocoa
Provides the chocolate flavour and deep colour of the cake.
Margarine (in the method)
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and moisture.
Egg whites
Whipped into a meringue to lighten the batter and give structure.
Cake flour
Provides the starch and gluten-light structure that gives the cake its tender crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cocoa and batter to produce gas for rising and browning.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to help the cake rise.

The step that matters

Folding the meringue. The meringue is set aside but its role in the batter is not stated in the record, so the timing of adding it is unclear.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream, flour, cinnamon):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cream, flour, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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