Name: Chocolate Cake
Ingredients: two cups of granulated sugar; one cup of butter; one cup of sweet milk; one-quarter pound of walter baker's chocolate; three teacups of sifted flour; five eggs; two small teaspoonsful of royal baking powder

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

two cups of granulated sugar
one cup of butter
one cup of sweet milk
one-quarter pound of walter baker's chocolate
three teacups of sifted flour
five eggs
two small teaspoonsful of royal baking powder

Directions

Make the batter

Beat the five eggs separately.
Combine three teacups of sifted flour, two cups of granulated sugar, one cup of butter, one cup of sweet milk, and two small teaspoonsful of Royal Baking Powder.
Mix the beaten eggs into the combined ingredients.
Melt one-quarter pound of Walter Baker's chocolate over steam and stir it into the batter.

Bake and assemble

Bake in layer tins, with the chocolate icing between each layer.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

988Calories

29 gProtein

35 gFat

137 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

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

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

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,128 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Eggs: Structure and richness, binding the batter and helping it rise.
Butter: Fat that adds tenderness and a rich crumb.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Granulated sugar: Sweetness, and helps the cake brown and stay moist.
Royal baking powder: Leavening that releases gas so the cake rises and becomes light.
Walter baker's chocolate: Gives the cake its chocolate flavour and color.

“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.