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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake made with sugar, butter, cinnamon, cloves, grated chocolate, allspice, almonds, wine, cracker meal, baking powder, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kaufman, Nettie M · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream sugar, butter, and yolk of eggs.

  2. In another bowl, mix chocolate, almonds, spices, lemon peel, flour, and baking powder.

  3. Mix contents of both bowls.

  4. Add wine and beaten whites of eggs.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake in layers.

  2. Put jelly or whipped cream between.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

950Calories
22 gProtein
29 gFat
141 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cracker5 saltine crackers (15g)66
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6

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

By Kaufman, Nettie M. 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Chocolate + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Clove + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,605 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the creamed mixture hold together.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
Eggs
Yolks add richness and binding, while beaten whites add air and lift.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises.
Pounded almonds
Add body and moisture, giving the cake a dense, tender texture.
Grated chocolate
Adds flavor and richness to the cake.

The step that matters

Add the beaten egg whites gently. Beaten whites trap air that gives the cake lift. Vigorous stirring deflates them, so the layers can bake up dense and flat.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cinnamon, chocolate, almond, wine, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cinnamon, chocolate, almond, wine, 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.

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