Name: Queen Chocolate Cake
Ingredients: one pound of flour; one cup of milk; two heaping teaspoonfuls star crystal baking powder; three eggs; one-half cup of melted butter

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Queen Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

Combine one pound of flour with two heaping teaspoonfuls Star Crystal Baking Powder.
Beat three eggs, one cup of milk, and one-half cup of melted butter.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Flavor with lemon. Mix thoroughly.

Bake and finish

Bake in a hot oven.
When cold, make a chocolate frosting. Ornament with walnuts.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

784Calories

27 gProtein

26 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78

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

By Clarke, Mary Lamson. [from old catalog]. 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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter 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

Flour: Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Eggs: Add structure and help bind the batter as it sets.
Milk: Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.
Melted butter: Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor.

The step that matters

Bake in a hot oven. Baking powder needs heat to release gas, and the batter sets as proteins and starch firm up. If the oven is too cool, the cake may rise poorly and turn out dense.

“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.

More chocolate cake recipes

Filling 18 French 14 Marbled 13 Black 11 Dark 10 Marble 7 See all 565 →

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Spice Cake344 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Queen Chocolate Cake