Skip to main content
Dessert

Mocha Cake

A layered cake with coffee and cocoa flavored batter and a butter‑sugar filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Coffee and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 91 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Mocha Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Beat one cup sugar.

  2. Separate and beat two eggs.

  3. Beat one cup flour.

  4. Add one teaspoon baking powder to the flour.

  5. After all beaten, add two cups boiling milk with one teaspoonful butter in it.

  6. Add a little vanilla.

  7. Bake in two layers.

Make the filling and assemble

  1. Beat one cup powdered sugar.

  2. Beat four cups butter together.

  3. Add two tablespoonfuls strong coffee.

  4. Add two level teaspoons of cocoa.

  5. Add a little vanilla.

  6. Spread filling between layers and on top.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

839Calories
21 gProtein
27 gFat
125 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Coffeenot 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.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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.

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. Coffee + cocoatop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Butter + cocoatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together548 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-undecalactone (coconut, creamy).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter set and hold its shape.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, making the cake rise and become light.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
Cocoa
Gives the cake its chocolate flavor and deep brown color.

Swap the cocoa

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Walnutfits about as well
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, coffee, 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.

You might also like

Coffee Ice CreamCoffee Ice Cream91 recipesCoffee CustardCoffee Custard27 recipesCoconut PuddingCoconut Pudding26 recipesCoffee CakeCoffee Cake21 recipes