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Dessert

Ew We Cook IX Tennessee

A chocolate cake with variations including sour cream, solid chocolate, and icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 38 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Ew We Cook IX Tennessee

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Sift soda with flour.

  2. Beat all together well, then add chocolate and one tablespoon of vanilla.

  3. If batter is hard, add enough milk to reach proper consistency.

  4. Bake in layers and assemble with white icing.

  5. Melt quarter pound Baker's chocolate, one scant cup sugar, half cup milk, and one egg yolk; bring to a boil and set aside to cool.

  6. Combine one cup sugar, half cup melted butter, two eggs beaten separately with the one white left from dark mixture, half cup sweet milk, two cups sifted flour, and two teaspoons of powder, then add dark mixture.

Make the layered batter

  1. Cream one-third cup butter.

  2. Add gradually one and one-half cups brown sugar.

  3. Add yolks of two eggs and the white of one egg beaten together until light.

  4. Add two squares of chocolate melted in one-half cup boiling water.

  5. Dissolve one teaspoonful of soda in half teacup sour milk.

  6. Add to the batter alternately with two cups of sifted flour.

  7. Flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a deep pan about fifty minutes, or in two layers about twenty minutes.

  2. Boil one cup sugar with quarter cup boiling water until it spins a thread when dropped from a spoon.

  3. Pour gradually onto the beaten white of one egg, beating constantly until thickened.

  4. Add one teaspoonful of vanilla.

  5. Spread on cake and decorate with nuts.

Make the second batter

  1. Combine yolks of eight eggs, two scant cups sugar, one scant cup butter, one cup milk, two heaping tablespoons cocoa or grated chocolate, one teaspoon baking powder, vanilla to taste, and four cups flour.

  2. Stir in nuts broken in halves and add a fine flavor.

  3. Combine two-thirds cup butter, one and one-half cups sugar, one cup sweet milk, three cups sifted flour, two teaspoons baking powder, and two squares chocolate melted.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1149Calories
37 gProtein
43 gFat
150 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Waternot in our table0

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

By Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society. 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. Vanilla + cocoatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  3. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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
Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness, and help the batter set as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake, adds moisture, and helps the crust brown.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Chocolate
Gives the cake its deep chocolate flavor and dark color.

The step that matters

Pouring the boiling sugar syrup onto the egg white. The hot syrup cooks the egg white proteins into a stable, thick foam. Pouring it slowly while beating constantly keeps the white from scrambling and lets it thicken evenly.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vanilla, chocolate, milk, sugar, butter, flour, egg):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vanilla, chocolate, milk, sugar, butter, flour, 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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