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 ↓
French Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the chocolate layers
Make the chocolate part of the cake the same way, using only the yolks of the eggs with a cup of grated chocolate stirred into them.
Bake it in layers, the layers being light and dark.
For Chocolate Cake No. 1, stir one cup of butter and two cups of sugar to a cream.
Add the yolks of five eggs after they have been well beaten.
Stir in one cup of milk.
Beat the whites of two of the eggs to a stiff froth and add them.
Stir three and a half cups of sifted flour with two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder into the mixture.
Bake in jelly-cake tins.
Make the custard and boiled icing
Spread a custard between the layers, made with two eggs, one pint of milk, one-half cup of sugar and one tablespoonful of flour or cornstarch.
When the custard is cool, flavor it with two teaspoonfuls of vanilla.
For the filling, beat the three remaining egg whites very stiff.
Boil two cupfuls of sugar until it is almost candy, stringy or almost brittle.
Take the sugar hot from the fire and pour it very slowly on the beaten whites, beating fast.
Add one-half cake of grated chocolate and a teaspoonful of vanilla extract.
Stir until cool, then spread between each layer and over the top and sides.
Make the other cakes and frosting
For Chocolate Cake No. 2, bake the batter of one-half cup butter, two cups sugar, three-quarters of a cup sweet milk, two and one-half cups flour, whites of eight eggs, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar and one-half teaspoonful soda in shallow pans.
For the frosting, take the whites of three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of sugar and one tablespoonful of grated chocolate to one egg.
Put the cake together with the frosting, then frost the top of the cake with the same.
For Chocolate Cake No. 3, mix two cups sugar, one cup butter, yolks of five eggs, whites of two eggs and one cup milk.
Thoroughly mix two teaspoonfuls of baking powder with three and one-half cups flour while dry, then mix all together.
Bake in jelly tins.
For the filling, beat together the whites of three eggs, one and one-half cups of sugar, three tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate and one teaspoonful of vanilla.
Spread between the layers and on top of the cake.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
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
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| 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 |
| 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.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites build the foam and yolks add richness and structure to the batter.
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to add tenderness and a moist, fine crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, boiled, sets the frosting into a glossy, stringy coating.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the layers rise and stay light.
- Grated chocolate
- Gives the dark layers and filling their chocolate flavor and colour.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot sugar onto the whites. The sugar must be nearly candy-stage and poured slowly while beating fast, or the whites will deflate or turn grainy instead of forming a stable, glossy meringue.
“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.
You might also like
Chocolate Cream171 recipes
Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes
Chocolate Cookies76 recipes
Chocolate Fudge55 recipesThe 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.