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Dessert

Devil's Food

A chocolate cake with a boiled chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Devil's Food

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Devil's Food

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. Combine three-fourths cup grated chocolate, one-half cup milk, and one cup brown sugar; boil until thick, then let cool.

Make the batter

  1. Combine one cup brown sugar, one cup milk, one-half cup butter, two cups flour (measured before sifting), one teaspoon baking soda, three egg yolks, one teaspoon cinnamon, and one-fourth teaspoon cloves; beat together.

Bake and assemble

  1. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture from Part 1, bake in layers, and assemble the cake with the boiled icing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

899Calories
29 gProtein
24 gFat
141 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6

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

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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + cinnamontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter, giving a tender, set crumb.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat for a moist, tender texture and rich flavor.
Grated chocolate
Gives the cake its chocolate flavor, deep color, and richness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and deepens the flavor of the cake and icing.

The step that matters

Boil the chocolate mixture until thick. Chocolate, milk and sugar must be cooked until enough water evaporates and the sugar concentrates to set into a thick icing. Too little boiling leaves it runny, and too much can scorch the sugars and make it grainy or bitter.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, milk, sugar, flour, cinnamon, egg. 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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