Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
How We Cook in Tennessee
Ingredients
Directions
in a teaspoon of vanilla and broken pecan kernels. Use whole pecans on top of cake.
Cheap Cake Filling. — Two cups sugar, butter size of egg, half cup milk and water mixed; cook until it ropes; add small spoon cocoa or chocolate before taking from fire. Spread be- tween cakes. — Mrs. W. H. Wilson.
Fruit Filling. — Dissolve three cups sugar in one of water without stirring until it hardens when dropped in water. Beat whites three eggs stiff, then pour over them the boiling syrup, beating constantly. Take out half of icing and add pineapple, cocoanut or banana and spread between layers of the cake. Then ice the cake with plain icing. This never fails if the in- gredients are good.
Chocolate Filling. — Two and one-half cups of sugar; add enough water to dissolve it, and boil until it strings, or will ball up in a cup of cold water ; cut about one-quarter cake of Bak- er 's chocolate into little pieces, put in a plate and set in the stove to melt. When the sugar has cooked enough, add it slowly to the half beaten whites of two eggs, and then add the chocolate and beat till it begins to grow stiff; then ice the cake.— Mrs. I. B. Tigrett.
Chocolate Filling. — One cup grated chocolate, half cup but- ter, one cup sweet milk, two cups sugar ; boil till thick. Flavor with vanilla and beat until almost cool. Spread rapidly be- tween cake. — Mrs. W. H. Wilson.
Chocolate Filling. — Three cups sugar, one-half cup cream, one-half cup butter, one-half cup chocolate ; flavor with vanilla ; beat this in the slightly beaten whites of two eggs. Beat well.
Chocolate Filling. — Three cups sugar, one cup sweet milk, half cup water, three-quarters cup butter ; cream the butter be- fore using it; one-third cake of Baker's chocolate. Dissolve the chocolate in the syrup while cooking. Cook until it will harden when dropped in a cup of cold water. — Mrs. Wm. H. Long.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and vanilla 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
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