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Dessert

French Chocolate Cake

A layered chocolate cake made with chocolate caramel, butter, eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, and white frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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French Chocolate Cake

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

French Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Make a caramel of 2 squares of chocolate, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup sweet milk, and yolk of 1 egg.

  2. Boil until thickened, then set aside to cool.

Make the batter

  1. Cream 1 cup sugar with 2/3 cup butter, add 2 well-beaten eggs, then 1 cup milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

  2. Add the cooled chocolate, then 2 cups flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake in 3 layers.

  2. Put together with any good white frosting.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

898Calories
29 gProtein
23 gFat
138 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 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
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

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.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the layers rise.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay moist.
Chocolate
Gives the cake its deep chocolate flavor and color.

The step that matters

Boil the caramel until thickened. Thickening depends on sugar and milk concentrating while the egg yolk sets the mixture. Stopping too early leaves a thin filling, and boiling too long can scorch it or make it hard once cooled.

“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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