Name: Hershey Bar Milk Chocolate Cake
Ingredients: 2 sticks butter; 2 cups sugar; 4 eggs; 1 16-oz. can Hershey's syrup; 2-1/2 cups. flour; 1/2 tsp. baking soda; 1/4 tsp. salt; 1 cup buttermilk; 1 tsp. red food coloring; 1 tsp. vanilla; 1 large (8 oz.) Hershey's milk chocolate bar, softened

Why it works: Syrup and buttermilk match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

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.

Syrup + buttermilktop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together124 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, binding the batter as the cake sets in the oven.
Flour: Forms the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Buttermilk: Adds moisture and acidity, tenderizing the crumb and activating the baking soda.
Hershey's syrup: Adds chocolate flavor and moisture, deepening the cake's color and sweetness.

The step that matters

Beat well after adding buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and chocolate bar. Thorough beating develops the batter's structure and evenly distributes the leavening and the softened chocolate. Under-mixing leaves streaks and an uneven crumb, while over-beating can toughen the cake.

“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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Syrup	not in our table	0

Hershey Bar Milk Chocolate Cake