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Dessert

Devil's Food Cake

A chocolate cake made with brown sugar, grated chocolate, milk, flour, baking soda, eggs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. In a double boiler, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup grated chocolate, and ½ cup milk. Heat over stove until all is dissolved, but do not boil.

  2. When the mixture is cool, stir it into part 2.

Make the batter and bake

  1. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup butter, yolk of 3 eggs, ½ cup milk, 2 cups flour, and 1 teaspoon soda sifted into flour.

  2. Bake in layers.

Frost

  1. Frost with cream frosting.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

886Calories
29 gProtein
23 gFat
137 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 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

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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 main structure that holds the cake's shape.
Eggs
Add structure, richness and moisture to the batter.
Brown sugar
Adds moisture, tenderness and a molasses-like flavour.
Grated chocolate
Adds deep colour, rich flavour and fat to the cake.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts to make the batter rise and become lighter.

The step that matters

Heat the chocolate mixture without boiling, then let it cool before adding it. Boiling can make chocolate mixtures seize or turn grainy, and adding it hot can curdle the batter or cook the eggs. Cooling it first keeps the batter smooth.

“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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