Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Devil's Food
Ingredients
Directions
Make the two parts
Combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sweet milk, 2/3 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon baking soda to form the first part.
Combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup grated chocolate, 1/2 cup sweet milk, and the yolk of 1 egg; cook until thick.
Combine and bake
Mix the second part with the first part and bake in a loaf.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chocolate
- Adds deep flavour and dark colour, and its fat and solids give the cake a rich body.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Flour (in the method)
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking soda (in the method)
- Reacts with the acidic and sugary batter to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
- Egg
- The yolk enriches the batter and, when cooked, thickens the chocolate mixture.
The step that matters
Cook the chocolate mixture until thick. Egg yolk thickens as it heats, but too much heat can scramble it into lumps. Cooking gently and stopping once it coats a spoon keeps it smooth so it blends evenly into the batter.
“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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